ill II II II II II il II II II II II II II II II II 



Dwight Lyman Moody's 

/i 
LIFE WORK AND 

GOSPEL SERMONS 



AS DELIVERED BY THE GREAT EVANGELIST IN HIS 
REVIVAL WORK IN GREAT BRITAIN AND AMERICA. 
TOGETHER WITH A BIOGRAPHY OF HIS CO-LABORER 

IRA DAVID SANKEY. 



Handsomely Illustrated from Gustave Dore. 



Edited by RICHARD S. RHODES. 



"Behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, 
Which shall be to all people."— Luke ii: 10, 



CHICAGO: 
RHODEvS & McCIvURB PUBLISHING CO. 

1900. 

II I! I! II II II II II I! II II II II II II 



88816 



Library of Congress 

Two Copies Received 
DEC 15 1900 

Copyright entry 

SECOND COPY 

Oeiivvred to 

0RD£R DtVtSION 
JAN 10 1901 



yv 






Entered according to act of Congress in tbe year 1900 by the 

Rhodes & McClure Publishing Company, 
in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, Washington, D. C. 

All Rights Reserved. 




The Rev. Dr. N. D. Hillis, of Plymouth Church, Brook- 
lyn, says in a letter to the "Interior" of Dwight L. Moody's 
life, work and sermons in part as follows : 

"For the republic, the roll call of s:lf-made men is long 
and brilliant. Orators like Clay come in from the corn- 
fields, statesmen like Webster come from the bleak hillsides 
of New England, presidents like Lincoln come forth from 
the university of rail-splitting, the inventors, merchants, and 
editors come in from rural districts and villages, and all are 
the architects of their own fortunes. But among all this 
group of men whose life in low estate began on a simple 
village green, none is more thrilling in its struggles, more 
picturesque in its contrasts and more pathetic in its defeats 
and victories than that of the great evangelist. An orphan 
at four, one of the props of the family at nine, at nineteen a 
clerk in a shoe store of Chicago, at twenty-three the foun- 
der of a Young Men's Christian Association, where he slept 
on the benches because he had no bed, and bought a loaf at 
the bakery because he had no money for board. At twenty- 
four, the superintendent of a Sunday school in a deserted 
saloon, where his pupils were drunkards, tramps, ragamuf- 
fins, mingled with street waifs and boys from a newsboys' 
home ; at forty, the most widely-talked-about man in Great 
Britain, where his friends were coll ge presidents and pro- 
fessors, authors, editors, statesmen, scientists, like Drum- 



PREFACE. 

mond and Lord Kelvin. Returning home, in Philadelphia 
he found that merchants had erected for his meetings a 
building seating ten thousand people, an event that was re- 
peated in New York, Boston, Chicago, and many other 
great cities in our land. At fifty-three he founded a training 
school for young men and women in Chicago that has sent 
out fifteen hundred workers ; a school for young women at 
East Northfield, and for young men at Mount Hermon, in- 
stitutions that now have for their work more than a score 
of great buildings. Thrilling, indeed, this story. It repeats 
the experience of young David, who passed from the sheep- 
cote to the king's throne, and the scepter of universal sway. 
" 'Where were the hidings of his power ?' you ask. From 
nothing, nothing comes. Blood tells. A great ancestry ex- 
plains a great man. The time was when men thought God 
called the prophet. But when God wants a John the Bap- 
tist, he calls not the son, but the father and mother, and 
they ordain the child in the cradle, and before the cradle. 
When the Hebrews were in bondage in Egypt, one mother 
there was brave enough to dare the king and hide her babe 
in an ark, amidst the bulrushes, and the mother's courage 
repeated itself in the greatest of jurists, Moses. Hannah 
was a dreamer who loved solitude, and walked the hills 
alone with God ; whose eyes 'were homes of silent prayer,' 
and her religious genius repeated itself in her son Samuel, 
one of the greatest of the judges. What was unique in 
Timothy, Paul tells us, was first of all unique in his mother 
Lois, and his grandmother Eunice. And the greatest evan- 
gelist since Whitfield had his power through th: ordain- 
ment of a great ancestry. He was of the best New England 
stock. His father had the fine old Puritan fiber, and his 
mother, widowed with her little flock about her, exhibits 
almost unparalleled heroism, courage and hope in the hour 
of suffering and trouble. For the tides of power in this man 

2 



PREFACE. 

flow down from the anectral hills. Among his birth gifts 
was the gift of perfect health and a perfect body, with stores 
of energy that seemed well-nigh inexhaustible. 

"His, also, was the gift of common sense, a mind hungry 
for knowledge, a reason that saw clearly or saw not at all ; 
moral earnestness, sincerity, self - reliance, courage, wit, 
humor, pathos, an intuitive knowledge of men, the genius 
for organization. Like Isaiah, he had a quenchless passion 
for righteousness. Like Daniel, he had the courage of his 
convictions in the face of fierce opposition. Like Paul, his 
enthusiasm for men made him the herald of righteousness 
to foreign nations. Like Bernard, his was the crusader's 
heart, organizing his hosts against passion, ignorance and 
sin. Without the eloquence of Spurgeon, without the fine 
culture of Phillips Brooks, without the supreme genius of 
Mr. Beecher, Mr. Moody was a herald, a man sent forth 
from God, who calkd the unchurched classes to repentance, 
who flamed forth on them the love of God in Christ. For 
nearly six y:ars, it is said that Mr. Moody's audiences aver- 
aged five thousand each afternoon and evening, a record 
that has never been surpassed in all the history of evangel- 
ism. 'Our bishops,' said the London Telegraph, 'have back 
of them a state income, great cathedrals, a small army of 
paid helpers and musicians, but where our bishops have 
reached tins this man has reached hundreds.' 

"If preaching is man making and man mending, then Mr. 
Moody was a veritable prince among preachers. In view of 
the great audiences of 15,000 people that thronged into, or 
about, the hall in Kansas City, where he preached his last 
sermon, all must confess that no preacher in the land since 
Mr. Beecher's time was comparable to Mr. Moody in per- 
sonal popularity, or in power to hold the masses. Any 
student skilled in the art of reading human nature, who has 
been upon the platform beside the great evangelist, and 

3 



PREFACE. 

while listening to his words has noted their effects upon 
the faces of the vast audience before him, must make haste 
to affirm that Mr. Moody knew the human mind and heart 
as a skillful musician knows his instrument, and sweeps all 
the banks of keys before him. In the addresses that were 
given no element of great speech was lacking. Mr. Moody 
moved his audience from tears to laughter ; for laughter 
and tears are outer signs of inner thoughts and feelings. 
Life is determined by the emotions of the heart quite as 
much as by the arguments of the head. No matter how 
scholarly or intellectual the preacher may be, he is at best a 
second-rate preacher whose truth burns with a cold, white 
light. Truth in the hands of an intellectual philosopher 
who has found his way into the pulpit cuts with a keen edge, 
indeed, but truth in Mr. Moody's hands has been heated 
red hot, and the edge of his sword burns as well as cuts, like 
the Word of God, dividing between the joints and marrow 
and separating the sinner from his evil deeds. 

"No misconception can be greater than to suppose that 
Mr. Moody has succeeded in spite of his lack of theological 
preparation. My old professor of dogmatic theology criti- 
cised me harshly during my student days for going to hear 
Mr. Moody on Sunday morning. Because the great evan- 
gelist was a layman, and unordained, this distinguished 
theologian said that he declined to attend any of Mr. 
Moody's meetings during his great campaign in a city in 
which this professor had formerly resided. It is true that 
Mr. Moody had never crossed the threshold of college or 
theological seminary. Moreover, in his enthusiasm he 
often used the vernacular, homely idioms, and in every ser- 
mon broke some of the laws of grammar or of rhetoric. But 
nothing is risked in the statement that it was a great good 
fortune for him that he never found his way into a theo- 
logical seminary. Nevertheless, he was a past master in his 

4 



PREFACE. 

chosen art. He reached men, not because he knew so little 
about preaching, but because he knew so much. Could 
some scholar take a volume of Mr. Moody's sermons, and 
condense his thoughts, methods, appeals and illustrations 
into a volume of homiletics, the book would be so large and 
comprehensive that the ordinary work on the art of preach- 
ing would not make an introduction thereto. Taken all in 
all, for the work of an evangelist this man represents more 
culture and more thought about the methods of reaching 
the common people than any other man in his generation. 
To him it has been given to meet all the great preachers of 
the day, and to work with them. His was also the power 
of selection from each Spurgeon, or Maclaren, or Brooks, 
or Beecher, and from each he selected his special gift and 
excellence. Having spent eight months of each year in 
working with the foremost pastors at home and abroad, he 
has had four months in summer for study and conference. 
Those who have seen Mr. Moody's library know that this 
man has been a student of books as well as men. Super- 
ficial, indeed, the judgment of those who think that Mr. 
Moody was without education, or training, or logic, or 
knowledge of preaching as a science. With him preaching 
became a fine art, an art that conceals the art. Did our 
theological seminaries multiply their three years of study 
by two, they could not hope to equip their students as long 
study and experience with men and books have equipped 
Mr. Moody. The methods the great evangelist adopted 
gather up the experience of twenty years of working with 
the greatest preachers of England, Scotland and America. 
Perhaps of all the arts and occupations in our age, not one 
is comparable to the art of preaching. It demands the 
highest talent, the deepest culture, tireless practice and 
complete consecration. And happy the generation to whom 
God gave this herald of good tidings, this friend of the 

5 



PREFACE. 

common people, this messenger to the unchurched multi- 
tudes, who followed him as their leader along those paths 
that lead to prosperity and peace, to Christ, man's Savior, 
to God, man's Father." 

"In his life and actions Mr. Moody was as bold and fear- 
less as in his sermons and revival exhortations. There was 
no place he would not go, no duty he would not undertake, 
if he felt that he could accomplish good." 

With the earnest prayer that God's blessing may accom- 
pany the reading of the great evangelist's life, work and 
sermons, this volume is dedicated to the public. 

RICHARD S. RHODES. 

Chicago, 111., January i, 1900. 





PAGE 

Biography of D. L. Moody i 

Moody and Sankey in Great Britain xiii 

Moody and Sankey in the United States xxiii 

Mr. Moody at Northfield xxvii 

Mr. Moody's Sickness and Death xxxiv 

The Funeral at East Northfield xxxviii 

Biography of Ira David Sankey xLii 

What is Christ to Me? 17 

Faith 36 

k^ffcppTrkance 54 

Excused 77 

No Room for Hirn 100 

Their Rock is not our Rock 116 

Tekel 136 

No Difference 158 

Grace 177 

Why Halt Ye? 197 

$on, Remember 216 

v'Be not Deceived 235 

Love 249 

Where Art Thou? 266 

uWhat Think Ye of Christ? 285 

Preach the Gospel 306 

Heaven 327 

Heaven, No. 2 347 

What seek Ye? 365 

Blessed Hope 379 

The Worldly Professor 399 

Peace 412 

Assurance 418 

The Promises 429 

Confessing Christ 434 




PAGE 

D. L. Moody opposite i 

Mr. Moody Preaching in the Royal Opera House, 

Hay market, London xiii 

Chicago Tabernacle, Erected for Mr. Moody's Services. xxiii 

Ira D. Sankev opposite xiii 

" [ Am the Way" 16 

The Following Illustrations from Gustave Doee 

Raising of the Daughter of Jairus 37 

Jonah Calling Nineveh to Repentance 55 

The Expulsion from the Garden 76 

The Nativity 101 

Moses Breaking the Tables of Law s 117 

Belshazzars Feast 137 

Saul's Conversion 159 

Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery.... 176 

Daniel 196 

The Murder of Abel 217 

Joseph Sold into Egypt 234 

The Betrayal. 248 

Satan in Paradise 267 

The Sermon on the Mount 284 

The Last Supper 307 

Beyond 326 

The Heavenly Choir 346 

Jesus Healing the Sick 364 

The Star in the East 378 

The Destruction of Sodom 398 

Leah 413 

The Prophet Amos 419 

Isaiah 428 

The Widow's Mite 434 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 



Dwight Lyman Moody, the lay evangelist, was born 
in the town of Northfield, Massachusetts, on the fifth of 
February, 1837. He came of the old Puritan stock; his 
father's and mother's families being numbered among the 
earliest settlers of that state. His father, Edwin, owned 
a comfortable farm-house just without the town, and a 
few acres of stony land, the whole encumbered by a 
mortgage. When the building trade was brisk, he worked 
as a stone-mason, and his leisure hours he spent in culti- 
vating his little farm. But his spirit was crushed by re- 
verses in business, and he died suddenly after an illness 
of a few hours. Dwight was then only four years old, 
but the shock of that death made an impression on him 
which he declares he has never forgotten. This blow 
was followed by the birth of a twin boy and girl a few 
weeks later. Thus Mrs. Moody was burdened with the 
care of seven sons, and two daughters, of whom the 
eldest boy was only aged fifteen. Yet this widowed 
mother refused to part with any of her little brood. She 
bravely set about caring for them all, and contrived to 
have the little hands earn something for their support, by 
tilling the garden and doing odd jobs for the neighbors. 
She taught them every day a little Bible lesson, and 
always accompanied them to the Unitarian church and 
Sunday-school. 



ii DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

Another sorrow came on the bereaved family, through 
the oldest boy becoming a runaway. We give Mr. 
Moody's description of this incident, as he told it in Eng- 
land, and because of the insight it gives into his home 
life. 

' ' I can give you a little experience of my own family. 
Before I was four years old, the first thing I remember 
was the death of my father. He had been unfortunate 
in business, and failed. Soon after his death the cred- 
itors came in and took everything. My mother was left 
with a large family of children. One calamity after an- 
other swept over the entire household. Twins were 
added to the family, and my mother was taken sick. The 
eldest boy was fifteen years of age, and to him my mother 
looked as a stay in her calamity, but all at once that boy 
became a wanderer. He had been reading some of the 
trashy novels, and the belief had seized him that he had 
only to go away to make a fortune. Away he went. I 
can remember how eagerly she used to look for tidings 
of that boy; how she used to send us to the post-office to 
see if there was a letter from him, and I recollect how 
we used to come back with the sad news, ' No letter.' I 
remember how in the evenings, we used to sit beside 
her in that New England home, and we would talk about 
our father; but the moment the name of that boy was 
mentioned she would hush us into silence. Some nights 
when the wind was very high, and the house, which was 
upon a hill, would tremble at every gust, the voice of my 
mother was raised in prayer for that wanderer who had 
treated her so unkindly. I used to think she loved him 
more than all of us put together, and I believe she did. 
On a Thanksgiving day (you know that is a family day 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. Ill 

in New England) she used to set a chair for him, think- 
ing he would return home. Her family grew up, and her 
boys 'left home. When I got so that I could write, I 
sent letters all over the country, but could find no trace 
of him. One day while in Boston, the news reached me 
that he had returned. While in that city, I remember 
how I used to look for him in every store; he had a mark 
on his face, but I never got any trace. One day while 
my mother was sitting at the door, a stranger was seen 
coming toward the house, and when he came to the door 
he stopped. My mother didn't know her boy. He stood 
there with folded arms and great beard flowing down his 
breast, his tears trickling down his face. When my 
mother saw those tears, she cried, ' O, it's my lost son,' 
and entreated him to come in. But he stood still. 'No, 
mother,' he said, ' I will not come in until I hear first 
that you have forgiven me.' Do you believe she was not 
willing to forgive him? Do you think she was likely to 
keep him long standing there. She rushed to the thresh- 
old, threw her arms around him, and breathed forgive- 
ness." 

Young Moody, at the age of seventeen, left North- 
field, with his mother's permission, to seek employment 
in Boston, where his uncle was in business, as a shoe 
merchant. Mr. Holton engaged his country nephew with 
some reluctance, and on two conditions. The lad agreed 
to be governed by his advice, and to attend regularly the 
Sunday-school and services of the Mount Vernon Con- 
gregational church. Its pastor was the eloquent and 
learned Dr. E. N. Kirk, who, in earlier years had ac- 
complished much good as an evangelist. The lad was 
not much impressed by the preaching, which he was not 



iv DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

qualified to comprehend; but the personal efforts of his 
teacher, Mr. Edward Kimball, were blessed to his con- 
version. Many years after, he told the story of how he 
was saved. " When I was in Boston, I used to attend 
a Sunday-school class, and one day, I recollect a Sab- 
bath-school teacher came round behind the counter of 
the shop I was to woik in, and put his hand on my 
shoulder, and talked to me about Christ and my soul. I 
had not felt that I had a soul till then. I said, ' This is 
a very strange thing. Here is a man who never saw me 
until within a few days, and he is weeping over my sins, 
and I never shed a tear about them.' But I understand 
it now, and know what it is to have a passion for men's 
souls and weep over their sins. I don't remember what 
he said, but I can feel the power of that young man's 
hand on my shoulder to-night. Young Christian men, 
go and lay your hand on your comrade's shoulder, and 
point him to Jesus to-night. Well, he got me up to the 
school, and it was not long before I was brought into the 
kingdom of God." Years afterward, when Mr. Moody 
was preaching in Boston, he was permitted to lead to 
the Savior a son of that teacher, who found peace in 
believing just at his own age of seventeen. Thus the 
seed sown on the waters bore in due time the sweetest 
fruitage for the sower. 

The young convert was unpromising enough at first 
in outward appearance. He knew very little of the 
Scriptures, and he was not grounded in evangelical truth. 
Besides, his bashful shyness in the presence of cultured, 
refined Christians, his poor command of words to ex- 
press his thoughts, and his broken, awkward sentences, 
made him, in the language of his teacher, very "un- 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. V 

likely ever to become a Christian of clear and decided 
views of gospel truth, still less to fill any extended sphere 
of public usefulness." Therefore, it was that he was not 
accepted into membership until May, 1856, a year after 
his first application. He remained but a few months 
longer in Boston. He longed for a wider field of use- 
fulness, where his energy in business and religious work 
would be less trammeled. So, in September, 1856, he 
betook himself to Chicago with testimonials, which 
secured him a business engagement as salesman in the 
shoe trade. He also entered the Plymouth Congrega- 
tional church, and showed his earnest spirit by renting 
four pews, which he kept filled with young men and boys. 
He desired to work in the service of prayer; but the 
brethren were not patient enough to suffer his crude ex- 
perience, and suggestions were not infrequent that he 
could best serve the Lord by silence. 

Mr. Moody's first start in the work of reaching souls 
was obtained through a little mission school. He offered 
himself as teacher, and was told he might attend if he 
would bring his own scholars. So that week he collected 
together some eighteen ragged boys, and marched in at 
their head on the next Sunday. He liked such work so 
well that he set about further visitations in the by-streets, 
and soon had the school filled. He also busied himself 
in distributing tracts, and in looking after the good of 
the seamen at the wharves. His ardent spirit soon im- 
pelled him to set up a mission for himself, in a neglected 
and degraded section of North Chicago. He paid for 
the hire of an empty tavern, and gathered together the 
unclean and rude children of the neighborhood for Sun- 
day-school services, while the intemperate and ignorant 



VI DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY, 

adults were reached in the evening meetings. The poor 
little ones were won over to attention by gifts of maple 
sugar, and a liberal lot of hymns and stories. Just at 
this time, Mr. Reynolds, of Peoria, visited this humble 
mission. His description of the service is invaluable, as 
illustrating the progressive growth of the lay evangelist 
in strength and usefulness. "The first meeting I ever 
saw him at," he said several years since, "was in a little 
old shanty that had been abandoned by a saloonkeeper. 
Mr. Moody had got the place to hold the meetings in at 
night. I went there a little late, and the first thing I 
saw was a man standing up, with a few tallow candles 
around him, holding a negro boy, and trying to read to 
him the story of the prodigal son; and a great many of 
the words he could not make out, and had to skip. I 
thought, if the Lord can ever use such an instrument as 
that for his honor and glory, it will astonish me. After 
that meeting was over, Mr. Moody said to me, 
' Reynolds, I have got only one talent. I have no edu- 
cation, but I love the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want to 
do something for Him. I want you to pray for me.' I 
have never ceased from that day to this, morning and 
night, to pray for that devoted Christian soldier. I have 
watched him since then, have had counsel with him, and 
know him thoroughly; and, for consistent walk and con- 
versation, I have never met a man to equal him. It 
astounds me when I look back and see what Mr. Moody 
was, and then what he is under God to-day. The last 
time I heard from him, his injunction was, ' Pray forme 
every day ; pray now that the Lord will keep me humble. ' " 
Henceforth, missionary efforts were the uppermost 
concern in his daily life. The growth of his school led to 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. Vll 

the occupation of the North Market hall, and John V. 
Farwell, a liberal merchant, who supplied benches for the 
scholars, had the grace to become its superintendent. 
Under Moody's vigorous canvassing, the average attend- 
ance was kept up to six hundred and fifty, and sixty 
teachers were obtained. His engagements as a traveling 
salesman were not suffered to interfere with these Sunday 
duties, and he was rarely compelled to be absent. As 
the hall was used till a late hour on Saturday night for 
dancing, it was his custom for six years to clean out the 
dirt, and put the room in decent condition for the ser- 
vices. And he took care to let his light shine wherever 
he went. He feared neither drunkards nor rumsellers, 
deists nor infidels, for he felt himself a match for any ad- 
versary when armed with the sword of the Spirit, and 
strengthened by prayer. When the children of Roman 
Catholic parents stoned his windows, he at once sought 
redress of their bishop, and so won his confidence by a 
devout simplicity of spirit that immunity was secured for 
the future. His courageous avowal of his faith was 
startling to timid believers. When he was solicitous 
about the salvation of an acquaintance or a stranger, he 
hesitated not to kneel, and offer prayer for his conver- 
sion then and there, no matter whether they were out in 
the streets or traveling in a railroad car. His faith and 
spirit of consecration waxed stronger by the study of 
God's word and the constant fruitage of his life in good 
works. In i860, after a time of soul-searching in prayer, 
he determined to give all his time to God as an evangel- 
ist. When his employer inquired how he expected to 
support himself, he replied, "God will provide for me if 
He wishes me to keep on, and I shall keep on till I am 



Vlll DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

obliged to stop." His impulse in this personal work for 
souls was derived from the zeal of one of his teachers, 
who was dying of consumption, and who was permitted, 
before his death, to lead every one of his large class to 
the Savior. He reduced his expenses to a minimum by 
doing without a home, so that he slept on a bench in the 
room of the Young Men's Christian association, and 
spent but little for food. After a time, contributions 
came to him from friends, and he was appointed a city 
missionary, so that his means for assisting the destitute 
were much enlarged. He commenced then to fulfill a 
vow by speaking to one unconverted man every day. 
Sometimes his tender approaches were rejected with 
scorn and cursing, but again and again persons who had 
vilified him were drawn by the power of a conscience 
under conviction to seek the intercession of his prayers, 
that they might be led to the Savior, 

In the spirit of reliance on the leading of the Lord, the 
evangelist was married, on the 28th of August, 1862, to 
Miss Emma C. Revell. This Christian lady was a help- 
ful assistant in his meetings, and her sympathy made 
their little fireside a refuge of rest to him amid his toils. 
For years their home was a small and plain cottage. But 
its hospitality become proverbial, for gospel-workers and 
reclaimed prodigals were entertained without stint. The 
gift of a daughter and a son made the father more sus- 
ceptible to the thoughts and impulses of a child-life. He 
took care always to remain in close communion with 
their budding minds, and his sermons often have graphic 
illustrations of the methods he took to make them familiar 
with the fundamental truths of the faith. Meanwhile his 
daily living was wholly committed to the providence of 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. IX 

God. His mind was absorbed in watching over the souls 
of the throngs about him, and he obeyed the Scriptural 
injunction to take no anxious thought for the morrow. 
He lived the placid life befitting a child of God, having 
the trustful faith that his Father would supply his needs 
while he was busy as a worker in His vineyard. One 
morning he said to his wife, " I have no money, and the 
house is without supplies. It looks as if the Lord had 
had enough of me in this mission work, and is going to 
send me back again to sell boots and shoes." But a day 
or two later brought to him two checks, one of fifty dol- 
lars for himself, and the other for his school. He ac- 
cepted this gift as a token from the Lord that he was 
held in favor. This instance was but one of many of a 
similar character. His unselfish labors raised up for him 
many friends, and these gave him, on New Year's day, 
1868, the lease of a pleasant and furnished house. 

This whole season was one abounding in labors. Be- 
sides his army services, Mr. Moody was keenly alive to 
the needs of his mission at the North Market hall. His 
school numbered a thousand scholars. The congrega- 
tion he had gathered together now contained three hun- 
dred adults converted under his preaching. Thus had 
grown up, wholly without human design, a stanch and 
inseparable congregation under a lay pastor. This was 
organized as an independent fold, on the basis of the 
evangelical faith. In 1863, a church building was 
erected on Illinois street, at a cost of $20,000. Never 
had a people a more faithful and energetic pastor to 
watch over their welfare. Nor was he in the least for- 
getful of the Young Men's Christian association of Chi- 
cago. By his efforts its noon services for prayer were 



X DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

attended steadily by a thousand people. When its mem- 
bers were intent on obtaining a permanent hall, they 
elected him president in 1865 . Their expectations were 
fulfilled by the speedy erection of Farwell hall, and 
its dedication on the 29th of September, 1867. That 
building was destroyed by fire within a few months, but 
his exhaustless energy soon reared a second edifice on the 
same site. On Sunday evenings he used to preach in its 
hall after spending the morning in his own pulpit, and in 
the afternoon superintending ten hundred school children. 

When Farwell hall was dedicated, as "the first hall 
ever erected for Christian young men," Mr. Moody con- 
fessed his faith that, by the Lord's blessing, a religious 
influence was to go out from them that " should extend 
through every county in the state, through every state 
in the union, and finally, crossing the waters, should help 
to bring the whole world to God." 

Mr. Moody has been for years peculiarly a Bible 
Christian. Again and again friends have suggested to 
him certain courses of study, or the reading of particular 
books. But the pressure of his active duties as an evan- 
gelist has always intervened and prevented him from 
making any effort for the attainment of a theological 
education. Hence, he has been providentially driven to 
depend upon his personal study of the Bible itself, as its 
own best interpreter. The solemn injunction of Holy 
Writ to "preach the word," and the word only, was 
impressed upon his mind by Harry Morehouse, "the 
boy preacher," of Manchester, who told him, " You need 
only one book for the study of the Bible. Since I have 
been an evangelist, I have been the man of one book. If 
a text of Scripture troubles me, I ask another text to ex- 



DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. XI 

plain it; and if this will not answer, I carry it straight to 
the Lord." He met this lad, then aged seventeen, in his 
first visit to England and Ireland in 1867. A few months 
later, Morehouse visited Chicago, and delighted Mr. 
Moody by delivering seven Bible readings upon the love 
of God. He brought a multitude of passages to illustrate 
the depth of spiritual meaning in the text of John, iii, 16, 
which Luther has well termed "the little Gospel." This 
intercourse came to him as a new revelation of the won- 
ders of God's word and love. From that time his two 
accepted guide-books were Cruden's Concordance and the 
little Bible text-books. These aids enabled him to trace 
any word or doctrine through the Holy Scriptures. In 
Mr. Moody's second visit to England, in the spring of 
1872, he learned from the devout Plymouth Brethren to 
appreciate and appropriate the promises which abound 
in the Bible of the second coming of Christ. " I have felt 
like working three times as hard," he has stated, " since 
I came to understand that my Lord was coming back 
again. I look on this world as a wrecked vessel. God 
has given me a life-boat, and said to me, ' Moody, save 
all you can.'" He was also impressed by the prediction 
of Henry Varley, the Bible reader, " It remains for the 
world to see what the Lord can do with a man wholly 
consecrated to Christ. " Again, at another time, he 
heard one Christian ask another of himself, "Is this 
young man all O. O.?" meaning, " Is he out and out for 
Christ?" He has confessed that this question burned 
down into his soul, and taught him that it meant a good 
deal to be O. O. for Christ. 

The terrible fire of October, 1871, which swept Chi- 
cago into a whirlwind of flame, laid in ruins all the build* 



Xll DWIGHT LYMAN MOODY. 

ings that were associated with his labors. It also sepa- 
rated from him his yoke-fellow, Mr. Ira D. Sankey, who 
had joined him as a gospel singer only four months be- 
fore. But the evangelist was not cast down. Contribu- 
tions came to his aid from his friends at the east in an- 
swer to his appeals. Within three months he had a 
large frame tabernacle erected, measuring seventy-five 
by one hundred and nine feet. All his services were re- 
sumed, and the building also served as a storehouse of 
supplies for the impoverished district. His plans were 
laid out for the completion of a permanent church edi- 
fice, and an appeal for aid was made to the Sunday- 
school children of the land. While this was in progress, 
the two yoke-fellows, after a patient waiting on the 
Lord for guidance, accepted an invitation to visit the 
British isles as evangelists. Mr. Moody, after four 
months of self-searching inquiry, had made an entire 
consecration of his life to the Lord, and was fired with a 
baptism of the Spirit which, as he avowed later, made 
him eager "to go round the world and tell the perish- 
ing millions of a Savior's love. " 




< 

< 

w 

W 

P 
O 

X 

< 

o 

< 
o 
pel 



w o 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 



The mission of the gospel preacher and the gospel- 
singer to the British Isles was one of implicit faith and 
of unselfish zeal for the saving of sinners. The secret 
motive of Mr. Moody was " to win ten thousand souls 
to Christ." As far as worldly inducements were con- 
cerned, the circumstances were such as to forbid, rather 
than to favor, the venture across three thousand miles of 
sea. No influential association had extended an invita- 
tion to them, not a single individual had offered to help 
meet their personal expenses. Nor did these two com- 
panions, though they were about to take their families 
with them, expect or desire such a guarantee. They 
were united in the purpose to commit their ways entirely 
unto the Lord. To that end, they agreed beforehand to 
accept no payment for their services from any person or 
committee, and as well to refrain from any collections 
or enterprise for money-making. In such a spirit, they 
set forth, and on the 17th of June, 1873, they 
landed at Liverpool. There news met them that two of 
the three gentlemen who had invited them to England 
had died. The third, who lived at York, advised them 
to delay a month, but instead they hastened to that town 
the same night. All things human combined to dis- 
courage them. But their utter weakness was the promise 

xiii 



XIV MOODY AND SAN KEY IN GREAT BRITAIN, 

of success, for it gave the Lord the opportunity to glorify 
Himself by the mouth of His chosen messengers. 

Mr. Moody stood forth a plain man of the people. He 
was in thorough sympathy with the concerns of the great 
mass of humanity, and able to express religious truth in 
homely, vivid speech. He possessed a stalwart body, 
and a grand vitality, which qualified him to undertake 
tremendous toils without danger to his health. A man 
of excellent executive capacity, and trained in the details 
of secular and religious business, he was able to organize 
enterprises on a vast scale, and to direct a multitude of 
assistants, so that congregations of many thousands 
could be handled as quietly as an ordinary assembly. A 
natural, self-reliant man, warped by neither pride nor 
vanity, he was wont as a speaker to forget his own in- 
dividuality in the hunger of his heart for the salvation of 
his hearers. A student of the Bible alone, and an un- 
questioning believer of its every statement as coming 
from the Lord; an evangelist bravely equipped for his 
responsible calling by years of personal experience with 
inquirers and doubters; a man of prayer, who was often in 
secret communion with the Lord of Hosts, refreshing his 
strength for the perpetual conflict of life; he was also, 
as the full fruition of these characteristics, a Christian 
closely conformed to the image of his Master by the in- 
dwelling Spirit of God, and because he had withholden 
no part of his nature from an unreserved consecration to 
His will. 

This ministry for preaching and singing the gospel 
began in the cathedral town of York. At the first 
prayer-meeting, held on Sunday morning, in a small room 
of the Association building, only four persons were pres- 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XV 

ent; and Mr. Moody has characterized that as the best 
service he ever attended. The clergy looked coldly on 
the evangelists as intruders, and most of the churches 
were closed to them. They labored on bravely against 
these discouragements for a month, and were comforted 
by seeing above two hundred converts to Christ. Their 
work at Sunderland began on Sunday, July 27, at the 
invitation of a Baptist pastor. The ministers still held 
aloof, and even the Young Men's Christian association 
eyed them suspiciously for a week before offering the 
hand of fellowship. But the meetings steadily waxed 
larger. 

The evangelists were invited to Newcastle-on-the- 
Tyne, by the chief ministers of that town, and were 
heartily sustained by the leaders of the congregations. 
And now Mr. Moody confessed his hope. ' ' We are on 
the eve of a great revival which may cover Great Britain, 
and perhaps make itself felt in America. And why may 
not the fire burn as long as I live? When this revival 
spirit dies, may I die with it." His prophetic words met 
an immediate fulfillment. All the meetings were thronged 
with attentive listeners, and as many as thirty-four ser- 
vices were held in a single week. A noonday prayer- 
meeting was organized, while special efforts were made 
to reach the factory hands and business men. An all- 
day-meeting was held on September 10, wherein 
seventeen hundred participated. One hour was spent in 
Bible reading, another on the promises, and the last in 
an examination of what the Scriptures teach concerning 
heaven. The town was wonderfully awakened, and every 
night sinners were drawn to the uplifted Savior. 

Edinburgh was prepared for the manifestation ot a 



XVI MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

signal blessing by a series of union prayer-meetings, held 
in October and November, which softened and unified 
the hearts of Christians of various names. Hence it 
was that the evangelists were welcomed in such a spirit 
of sympathy that captious criticism was unthought of. 
The ministry of song was an unheard-of innovation. 
Yet the rooted aversion of the Scottish people to the 
singing of aught but psalms gave way quickly to the 
evident testimony of the Spirit to the spirituality of His 
messages and the tenderness of His voice. On the first 
day, Sunday, November 23, the Music hall was thronged 
with two thousand auditors, and many more were ex- 
cluded. Five hundred met at noon on Monday for 
prayer, and that attendance was soon doubled. Meet- 
ings for inquirers was held after each service. Three 
hundred in the first week confessed their sins had been 
forgiven. Their ages ranged from seventy-five to eleven. 
Students and soldiers, poor and rich, the backsliding, in- 
temperate, and skeptical, were all represented. The 
largest halls were found to be too small to accommodate 
the eager audiences. A striking case of conversion was 
that of a notorious infidel, the chairman of a club of free- 
thinkers. He declared his utter disbelief in the value of 
prayer, and defied Mr. Moody to test its power on him. 
The evangelist accepted the challenge in faith, and re- 
membered him continually in his petitions till he heard 
of his finding Christ, months afterwards. An impressive 
watch-meeting was held on the last night of the year, 
1873, and a special blessing was besought for the British 
people. The week of prayer, from the 4th 'to the 
nth of January, 1874, was observed throughout all 
Scotland, as a season of united prayer for invoking the 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XV11 

Lord to visit the nation and the entire world in mercy. 
The most remarkable feature of this revival has been de- 
scribed as "the presence and the power of the Holy 
Ghost, the solemn awe, the prayerful, believing, expect- 
ant spirit, the anxious inquiry of unsaved souls, and the 
longing of believers to grow more like Christ; their hun- 
gering and thirsting after holiness." Similar characteris- 
tics have marked the advent of these yoke-fellows in 
every community. This mission in Edinburgh, which 
lasted till the 21st of January, 1874, resulted in 
adding three thousand to the city churches. 

At Dundee, meetings were held in the open air, at 
which from ten to sixteen thousand were present. Four 
hundred converts attended the meeting for praise and in- 
struction. The city of Glasgow was reached on Sunday, 
February 8. The first audience consisted of three 
thousand Sunday-school teachers; the prayer-meeting 
opened with half that number. The Crystal palace, 
which held above five thousand, was always crowded, 
though admission could only be had by ticket. To meet 
the emergency, special meetings were organized for 
young men and young women, inquirers, workingmen, 
and the intemperate. Seventeen thousand signatures to 
the pledge were secured here. So the work of awaken- 
ing went on for three months, steadily increasing in 
power. On the last Sunday afternoon, a great audience 
of some twenty or thirty thousand gathered in the palace 
garden, and hung on the words of Mr. Moody, as he 
spoke from the seat of a carriage. More than three thou- 
sand united to the city congregations, the large propor- 
tion of whom were under twenty- five. Short visits wore 
then made to Paisley, Greenock and Gourock. In the 



XV111 MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

summer a tour was taken through the Highlands, for the 
sowing of the seed of the word. Meetings were held in 
the open air at Perth, Aberdeen, Inverness and else- 
where, and many souls were won. In Ireland, the com- 
mon people heard the preacher gladly. The good work 
began at Belfast, on Sunday, September 6, 1874. To 
reach as many as possible, separate sessions were had for 
women and for men, for professing Christians, for the 
unconverted, and for inquirers, for young men and for 
boys. Huge gatherings were also addressed in the Bo- 
tanic gardens, a space of six acres being filled with atten- 
tive hearers. On Monday, September 27, a remarka- 
ble meeting of eight hours for inquirers was held, where- 
in above two hundred young men came unto Jesus and 
took His yoke upon them. And when the young con- 
verts were collected into a farewell-meeting, tickets for 
2, 150 were granted to such applicants. 

Dublin, five-sixths of whose inhabitants were not Prot- 
estant, awoke into a newness of religious life on the ad- 
vent of the evangelists. From the 25th of Octo- 
ber to the 29th of November, the whole city was 
stirred in a wonderful way. The great exhibition palace 
contained audiences in the evenings and on Sundays of 
from twelve to fifteen thousand. At the prayer-meetings 
and Bible-readings, the number often exceeded two 
thousand. Many Roman Catholics were attentive 
listeners, and parish priests as well. The stillness of 
these vast assemblies was very marked. Truly the Lord 
was faithful in answering the prayer Mr. Moody continu- 
ally offers in private, "O God, keep the people still, hold 
the meeting in Thy hand." These labors ended with a 
three days' convention, at which eight hundred ministers 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XIX 

attended, from all parts of Ireland. Above two thousand 
young converts confessed their new-born faith. 

Manchester for eight months had besought a blessing 
on its people; and these preparatory services were closed 
with a communion in which two thousand Christians 
united. The month of December was devoted here to 
evangelistic work. In spite of the wintry weather, the 
halls were crowded, and overflow meetings had to be 
organized. Here, as elsewhere, the large proportion of 
men in attendance was noticeable. The city was mapped 
out into districts, and the duty of distributing cards at 
every dwelling was assigned to a large corps of volun- 
teers. On one side of these was printed the hymn 
' 'Jesus of Nazareth passeth by;" and on the other, a 
short address by Mr. Moody, his text being Revelations, 
iii, 20. The efforts of the Young Men's Christian asso- 
ciation to purchase a suitable building met with a cordial 
indorsement, and a fourth of the entire amount needed 
was obtained at the first public meeting. 

In Sheffield, the scheme of house-to-house visitation 
had to be abandoned, in order to secure the co-operation 
of the clergy of the Church of England. The opening 
meeting was held on New Year's eve, and the address in 
that watch-night service was upon " Work." The great 
congregation, in response to Mr. Moody's request, finished 
the old year and began the new on their knees. For a 
fortnight, the dwellers in this industrial town collected in 
such numbers as to pack the halls and the sidewalks 
about them, so that the evangelist had frequently to 
speak in the open air. The work at Birmingham, "the 
toy-shop of the world," was also limited for lack of time. 
The spacious Town hall was crowded on January 17, 



XX MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

1875; an d for the other gatherings, even Bingley hall, 
which held twelve thousand, proved too small. Another 
Christian convention was held, at which above a thousand 
ministers attended. Sixteen hundred converts received 
tickets to the special meeting for counsel. After pausing 
a week for a vacation, these lay apostles began their 
ministry of a month at Liverpool on February 7. Vic- 
toria hall, a wooden structure able to shelter eleven 
thousand, was expressly erected for their reception. It 
was. crowded at all the night services, while an average 
of six thousand attended the Bible lectures and noon 
meetings for prayer. These three services were held 
every day except Saturday, when these devoted laborers 
took the rest which their over-taxed energies so imper- 
atively demanded. The house-to-house visitation was 
resumed here, and efforts were made to have a personal 
talk with the non-churchgoers. The corner-stone for 
the new hall of the Young Men's Christian association 
was laid, and a convention held for two days, which was 
largely attended by ministers and laymen. 

Four months were devoted to evangelizing the gigantic 
metropolis of London. Four centers were selected for 
preaching; Agricultural hall, at Islington, North London, 
could seat fourteen thousand and give standing room for 
six thousand more; Bow Road hall, in the extreme east, 
had ten thousand sittings; the Royal Opera house, in 
the west end, was in the aristocratic quarter of West- 
minster; and Victoria theater, in the south, was used 
until Camberwell hall was completed in June. This 
gospel campaign — the mightiest ever undertaken by an^ 
evangelist — was preceded by a course of union prayer- 
meetings for five months, that the Lord might prepare 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. XXI 

the way for a glorious manifestation of His power by 
purging the hearts of His own followers. A private con- 
ference w 7 as also held in advance with fifteen hundred of 
the city clergy, in order to explain the usual plan of pro- 
cedure, and remove any misapprehensions that might 
exist. The whole city was parceled out for canvassing, 
and countless bands of yoke-fellows were sent out to 
leave at every dwelling the tract drawn up by Mr. Moody, 
and to tender an invitation to the services. Among these 
laborers was an old woman aged eighty-five years, who 
fulfilled her duties faithfully, and met everywhere words 
of kindness. This wonderful mission was opened on 
Tuesday evening, the 9th of March, at Islington. 
For a time, the services were met with mockery and 
ribald speeches without, by disorderly men and women. 
But the demonstrations soon subsided, as the real piety 
of the speakers became evident. Fully eighty thousand 
attended the services of the first three days, and forty- 
five thousand heard the three addresses on the Sunday 
following. At the Royal Opera house, the nobility and 
gentry of England were directly reached by Bible-read- 
ing, and members of the royal family were frequently 
present. The last gospel-meeting was greater than any 
preceding, and a great number arose to receive the Lord 
Jesus Christ. The final meeting of thanksgiving was 
held at Mildmay Park Conference hall, on July 12. 
Seven hundred ministers were present to say farewell to 
the evangelist, whom they were so loath to see depart. 
Dr. A. Bonar testified that the work of increase was still 
going on in Glasgow, with at least seven thousand mem- 
bers already added to its churches. Other ministers bore 
witness to the abundant fruit of the revival. Then, alter 



XX11 MOODY AND SANKEY IN GREAT BRITAIN. 

silent prayer, the two evangelists hastily withdrew, not 
daring to expose themselves to the ordeal of parting with 
so many dear associates. They had held 285 meet- 
ings in London; these were attended by fully 2,500,000 
people; the expenses were $140,000. These companions 
came together at the final meetings in Liverpool. They 
sailed homeward on the 6th of August^ attended by 
many loving prayers, and arrived in New York on the 
14th. 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES, 



The gospel campaign in the union began at Brooklyn, 
on Sunday, October 24, 1875, an d continued there until 
November 19. The rink, on Clermont avenue, which 
had sittings for five thousand, was selected for the preach- 
ing services, while Mr. Talmage's tabernacle was devoted 
to prayer-meetings. A choir of 250 Christian singers 
was led by Mr. Sankey. 

In Philadelphia, a spacious freight depot, at Thirteenth 
and Market streets, was improvised to serve as a hall. 
Chairs were provided for about ten thousand listeners, 
besides a chorus of six hundred singers seated on the 
platform. The expenses were met by voluntary con- 
tributions outside, which amounted to $30,000. A corps 
of three hundred Christians acted as ushers, and a like 
number of selected workers served in the three inquiry- 
rooms. At the opening service, early on Sunday morn- 
ing, November 21, nine thousand were present, in spite 
of a drenching storm. In the afternoon, almost twice as 
many were turned away as found entrance. Henceforth, 
until the close, on January 16, the attendance and popu- 
lar interest never slackened. A special service was held 
on Thanksgiving day, and a watch-meeting on New 



xxm 



XXIV MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

Year's eve, from nine to twelve. Efforts were made to 
reach all classes of the community, and the meetings for 
young men were specially blessed. A careful computa- 
tion puts the total attendance at 9,000,000, and the con- 
verts at 4,000. Before leaving the city, a col- 
lection was made on behalf of the new hall of the Young 
Men's Christian association, and about $100,000 were 
obtained. A Christian convention was held on the 
19th and 20th of January, and pertinent sugges- 
tions about the methods of evangelistic work were given 
for the benefit of the two thousand ministers and laymen 
in attendance from outlying towns. 

For the mission in New York city, the hippodrome at 
Madison and Fourth avenues was leased, at a rental of 
$1,500 weekly, and $10,000 were expended in its pre- 
paration. It was partitioned into two halls, one seating 
6,500, the other 4, 000, the intent being to use the second 
for overflow meetings, and so bring such large congre- 
gations more completely under the speaker's control. A 
choir of eight hundred singers and corps of lay workers 
were organized. The deep concern of the people to hear 
the plain gospel preached and sung was as deep here 
among all classes as elsewhere, and the attendance was 
unflagging from February 7 to April 19. Again a 
Christian conference was convened for two days, at 
which Christian workers from the north and east took 
counsel together. At the final meeting for young con- 
verts, 3, 500 were present by ticket. 

Mr. Moody spent two weeks in May with his friend 
Major Whittle, at Augusta, Georgia, while Mr. Sankey 
took a rest at Newcastle. He preached with his usual 
fervor to large congregations. He traveled northward 



MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. XXV 

to Chicago by way of Nashville, Louisville, St. Louis 
and Kansas City, holding meetings on the way. His 
new church edifice on Chicago avenue was opened on 
his arrival. It was a large brick building with stone 
facings, measuring 120 by 100 feet, and having a bell- 
tower 120 feet high. Its entire cost was $100,000, all 
of which was paid before its dedication. August and 
September were spent in a visit to the old Northfield 
homestead, and in little tours to Greenfield, Springfield 
and Brattleboro. 

Chicago gave the heartiest welcome to its own Moody 
and Sankey in October, where they resumed the mission 
work suspended by them three years before. A taber- 
nacle was erected which could shelter ten thousand, and 
a choir of three hundred singers was organized. The 
city pastors gave a most cordial support, and its populace, 
many of whom had seen their homes twice burnt to the 
ground, were eager to listen to the earnest messages of 
free salvation. The great northwest was now moved, as 
never before, especially when tidings came of the sudden 
death of Philip P. Bliss and his wife, at Ashtabula, on 
December 29. Within three months 4,800 converts 
were recorded in Chicago. 

The evangelical Christians of Boston had long been 
waiting on the Lord for a special blessing on their city. 
A permanent brick edifice was built on Tremont street, 
able to seat a congregation of six thousand. Dr. Tourjee 
gathered a body of two thousand Christian singers, and 
organized it into five distinct choirs. The thoughtful 
addresses of Rev. Joseph Cook were of use in preparing 
that cultured and critical city for the advent of the evan- 
gelists. And the result of the religious services was 



XXVI MOODY AND SANKEY IN THE UNITED STATES. 

almost beyond expectation. Instead of a single noon- 
meeting for prayer, seven or eight sprang up throughout 
the city, with numbers varying from two hundred to 
i , 500. Ninety churches co-operated in a house-to-house 
visitation, and two thousand visitors were enrolled into 
these bands of yoke-fellows. Throughout all New Eng- 
land, the quickened activities of the churches were un- 
mistakable. And the evangelical faith met a more re- 
spectful hearing from its thinking classes than had been 
witnessed for a hundred years. 



MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 



Shortly after his return to America Mr. Moody had 
decided to make Northfield his home, and for some years 
was kept busy planning and executing the erection of insti- 
tutes and schools that have in later years given Northfield 
a world reputation. 

Northfield is today the physical evidence of Moody's 
greatness as an educator as well as an evangelist. When 
in 1875 Moody, accompanied by Mr. Sankey, returned to 
America after an epoch-making tour of revivalism in Great 
Britain, it was expected that the evangelist would select 
Chicago for his home, as it had formerly been. But Moody 
had larger plans, and recognized that for the rest of his life 
he was to be a world evangelist without an abiding city. 
He would have to retire occasionally for a brief respite from 
his public labors and provide a shelter for his family. It 
was this twin purpose, as described by Mr. Moody himself, 
that first turned his thoughts to Northfield, his birthplace, 
as a permanent home. Nowhere could a more restful spot 
have been found. The trees which line the long, wide ave- 
nue in double rows on each side are tall and of vast girth 
and in the hottest days create ample shade. The old-fash- 
ioned white houses stand some distance from the road and 
from each other, and are mostly surrounded with lawns 
and flower beds. The old homestead which was Mr. 
Moody's birthplace was occupied by his mother until her 

xxvii 



XXV111 MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 

death a few years ago. It is a plain, old farmhouse, front- 
ing upon a country road which branches from the main 
street of the village and winds easterly up the hillside tow- 
ard a mountainous district. It looks out upon orchards 
and meadows and has a large tree in its front dooryard. 

When Mr. Moody decided to make a permanent home in 
Northfield he bought for about $3,000 a plain but roomy 
frame house, with grounds, at the north end of the town 
near his mother's house. The building fronts on the main 
road. To the building as Mr. Moody found it he made 
additions from time to time as they were required. His 
study was on the first floor near the entrance. Here was 
his working library. A fine clock, much admired by vis- 
itors, was sent to him by a lady in England who had been 
helped in the Christian life by Moody's illustration of a 
pendulum. Everything about the house was characterized 
by simplicity and the best conditions of effective work. In 
the heart of Northfield Rev. Dr. Pentecost of Brooklyn also 
purchased a commodious residence, and still further south 
is a modest white cottage which Mr. Sankey also bought 
and fitted up as a summer home, to be near his fellow 
evangelist. 

Mr. Moody was no sooner domiciled in Northfield than 
he began to turn his attention to remedying the lack of 
educational facilities for the young people of the neighbor- 
hood. He was still a tremendous worker in the outside 
evangelistic field, but whenever he returned to Northfield 
the desire to benefit the young with schooling facilities was 
uppermost. His own early education had been deficient, 
and it became a fixed purpose of his life to remove a similar 
deficiency for the new generation of young people growing 
up in Northfield and vicinity. He first planned a school 
for girls. He built a small addition to his own house, with 
room for eight girls, and when twenty girls had been ad- 



MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXIX 

mitted to these cramped quarters, with others seeking 
entrance, he built a small brick dormitory and classroom 
on the other side of the street. This was also soon over- 
crowded, and Mr. Moody, with the help of H. N. F. Mar- 
shall, a retired Boston merchant, bought a hillside farm 
adjoining his own and his mother's holdings to the north. 
Plans for a building were begun and in 1879 the handsome 
brick building now known as East hall was erected. 

Its situation is more commanding than any of the other 
buildings put up later. It affords a superb view to the 
west and north. The foreground is the eastern slope of 
the Connecticut valley and the river can be seen at inter- 
vals throughout many miles of its winding course. The 
western slope of the valley, partly wooded, culminates in a 
range of forest-clad hills. In the direction of Vermont is 
a wide landscape, fading into distant mountain peaks. East 
hall cost about $30,000, was designed as a dormitory and 
accommodates sixty students. The small brick building 
near Mr. Moody's house was for some time used in con- 
nestion with it as a recitation hall. An additional dormi- 
tory was remodeled out of a large dwelling house farther 
north and named Bonar hall, after Rev. Dr. Bonar of Glas- 
gow. This latter building was destroyed by fire in March, 
1886. 

From the first Mr. Moody had kept down the charge of 
board and tuition for his girls to $100 a year. The ex- 
pense for each student was about $160 a year, the balance 
being made up by benevolent contributions. Applications 
increased at such a rate that it was decided in 1881 to build 
another large dormitory. Moody was himself absent in 
England during most of the next three years, but during 
his absence American friends and coworkers put up a large 
brick dormitory, costing about $60,000. The building was 
finshed in 1884 an d was named Marquand hall. Its site is 



XXX MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 

to the northwest of East hall. The building is used entirely 
as a dormitory and accommodates about eighty students. 
About midway between Marquand hall and East hall a 
handsome building of brick and granite, called Recitation 
hall, was completed in 1885. The cost of the latter build- 
ing, like a similar one afterward put up at Mount Hermon, 
was borne by the hymn-book fund. Moody used to say 
when pointing to either structure: "Mr. Sankey sang that 
building up." 

In fitting up Recitation hall it was arranged that parti- 
tions could be removed and the whole thrown into one 
auditorium. This hall has been the scene of many of the 
most memorable gatherings in Northfield of later years. 
In the same building are chemical, physical and botanical 
laboratories. A library building has also been given by 
generous friends. Improvements have been made on the 
grounds, which now have a parklike aspect. Winding 
drives connect the buildings with the main thoroughfare. 
The seminary grounds include more than 250 acres. There 
is an artificial lake, whose cost was borne by John Wana- 
maker of Philadelphia. Many additions and improvements 
have been made within recent years, but the seminary rules 
are the same as at the institution's humble beginning. In- 
stead of scores the pupils are now numbered by hundreds. 
The curriculum is as thorough as in most girls' schools, 
with the addition of specific Christian training. A graduate 
of Wellesley college, Miss Evdyn S. Hall, organized the 
original teaching staff, which is still noted for proficiency. 

While the Northfield seminary was still in its infant state 
Mr. Moody decided to have also a school for boys. His 
first purchase for this end was a 400-acre farm in the town 
of Gill, about four miles from Northfield, in a southwest- 
erly direction, across the Connecticut. He bought 200 
acres first for $7,000 and a little later the other 200 acres 



MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXXI 

for $5,500. The Connecticut River railroad traverses the 
site. The height upon which Mr. Moody decided to build 
his boys' school is now called Mount Hermon. There is 
a picturesque drive from Northfield to Mount Hermon. 
The river is crossed by a wire-rope ferry and there is tele- 
phone communication between the buildings of both insti- 
tutions. The money with which the Mount Hermon prop- 
erty was bought was the gift of Hiram Camp, who wrote 
his check for $25,000. 

At first the old farmhouses found upon the place were 
used as dormitories. A small wooden building was first 
put up to serve as a recitation hall. When more dormi- 
tory room was needed Mr. Moody concluded to try the 
family system. Instead of housing a large number of boys 
in one building they were divided into groups of not more 
than twenty and housed in small cottages, each under the 
charge of two matrons. In 1885 a large building of brick 
and granite, called Recitation hall, was completed and dedi- 
cated. It contains class and recitation rooms, library, 
chapel and museum. There is a splendid view from the 
cupola of this building. After a few years Mr. Moody 
changed his plans and raised the age of admission for his 
boys to 16 years and enlarged the course of study. This 
broke up the family system to some extent, and new build- 
ings on a large scale were begun in 1885. In June, 1886, a 
large dormitory, called Crossley hall, was dedicated. Later 
a large brick dining hall was erected, and within recent 
years there have been many additions, making the Mount 
Hermon seminary one of the best equipped boys' schools 
in the east. 

Mr. Moody always had strong views as to the admission 
and training of his scholars of both sexes. At Mount Her- 
mon the cost of board and tuition was also placed at $100 
a year, so that none was barred on the ground of expense. 



XXX11 MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. 

At Mount Hermon the students have always been required 
to perform a certain amount of manual labor in addition to 
class work. Some are employed on the farm, some in the 
laundry and some in housework. The students are for the 
most part a picked body of young, vigorous Christians, 
who have been drawn to Mr. Moody's school from all parts 
of the earth. There are students from Germany, Scandi- 
navia, Turkey, and even American Indians and Japanese. 
Of course the main body of students is of American extrac- 
tion, and a large proportion of them are in training for 
missionary work. Whenever he was at Northfield Mr. 
Moody gave regular courses of lectures at both of his 
schools, and distinguished educators from all other seats of 
learning have been frequent lecturers. 

Besides his schools, Northfield, under Mr. Moody's direc- 
tion, became the center of gatherings of religious workers, 
culminating in the famous summer conventions which were 
begun in 1880. For nine months of every year up to the 
last year of his life Mr. Moody was engrossed in arduous 
evangelistic labor in various parts of the country. His 
idea of a vacation was to throw himself into his Northfield 
educational work and to plan big conventions which made 
Northfield a summer city. He called his first convention 
of Christian workers in 1880. The only large building 
then constructed was the one now known as East hall, be- 
hind which a capacious camp was pitched. Under this 
canopy from day to day were held meetings whose influ- 
ence was world-w T ide. 

In 1881 a convention was called for bible study and 
continued for thirty days. Rev. Dr. Bonar of Glasgow, 
who had just served as moderator of the general assembly 
of the Free church of Scotland, was a principal figure at 
this gathering. Dozens of equally prominent clergymen 
and evangelists attended and Mr. Sankey conducted the 



MR. MOODY AT NORTHFIELD. XXX111 

singing. For the next three years, owing to Mr. Moody's 
absence in England, there were no conventions, but in 1885 
there was another August convention. Every year since 
they have grown in interest. The attendance has averaged 
from 300 to 500 from a distance, and with the people of the 
vicinity the meetings often averaged 1,500. Moody was 
always the life and soul of these conventions and of late 
years many of the most prominent regular pastors in Eng- 
land and America have taken part. Special conventions 
of college students have also been held under Mr. Moody's 
personal leadership. Whether the great evangelist's death 
will lessen the fame of Northfield as a convention city is a 
melancholy problem for a host of his friends and co- 
workers. 



MR. MOODY'S SICKNESS AND DEATH. 



The famous evangelist was stricken with heart trouble 
in Kansas City on Nov. 16, 1899, while holding revival 
meetings at Convention hall. He was compelled to give 
up his work, and on the day following started east in the 
care of a physician. 

Mr. Moody addressed great crowds during his stay at 
Kansas City. The meetings began on Sunday, Nov. 12. 
The crowds were immense, thousands of people filling the 
hall afternoon and evening each day. The strain on Mr. 
Moody was great. He preached his last sermon on Thurs- 
day night, Nov. 16, fully 15,000 people listening to an ear- 
nest appeal which many stamped as one of the evangelist's 
greatest eflbrts. He was stricken the next morning at his 
hotel, but laughingly declared he was all right, and that he 
would be able to preach that afternoon. 

After he reached Northfield eminent physicians were con- 
sulted and everything was done to prolong life. 

Conscious up to the moment his eyes closed, well know- 
ing his last sleep was about to begin, he died at 11:50 
o'clock, Dec. 22, 1899. The end came quietly, peacefully, 
at his home in this village, which he loved so well and near 
to the scenes of many of his triumphs. 

Mr. Moody first knew that the end was very near at 8 
o'clock the previous night. He was satisfied that he would 



xxxiv 



MR. MOODY S STCKNESS AND DEATH. XXXV 

not recover, and when the doctor confirmed his own opin- 
ion he said : 

"The world is receding and heaven opening." 

During the night Mr. Moody had a number of sinking 
spells. Despite his suffering he was kindness itself to 
those about him. At 2 o'clock in the morning Dr. N. P. 
Wood, the family physician, who slept in the house, was 
called at the request of Mr. Moody. The latter was per- 
spiring, and he requested his son-in-law, A. P. Fitt, who 
spent the night with him, to call the physician that he might 
note the symptoms. 

Dr. Wood administered a hypodermic injection of 
strychnia. This caused the heart to perform its duties 
more regularly, and Mr. Moody requested his son-in-law 
and Dr. Wood to retire. Mr. Moody's oldest son, Will R. 
Moody, who had been sleeping the first of the night, spent 
the last half hour with his father. 

At 7 :yj o'clock in the morning Dr. Wood was again 
called. When he reached Mr. Moody's room he found 
his patient in a semi-conscious condition. When Mr. 
Moody recovered consciousness he said, with all his old 
vivacity : 

"What's the matter; what's going on here?" 

"Father, you haven't been quite so well, and so we came 
in to see you," a member of the family replied. A little 
later Mr. Moody said to his sons : 

"I have always b.en an ambitious man — not ambitious 
to lay up wealth, but to find work to do." 

Mr. Moody urged his two boys and Mr. Fitt to see that 
the schools at Northfield, at Mount Hermon and the Chi- 
cago Bible Institute should receive their best care. This 
they assured Mr. Moody they would do. 

During the forenoon Mrs. Fitt, his daughter, said to 
him : "Father, we can't spare you." Mr. Moody's reply 
was: 



XXXVI MR. MOODY S SICKNESS AND DEATH. 

"I'm not going to throw my life away. If God has more 
work for me to do I'll not die." 

Dr. Wood says Mr. Moody did not have the slightest 
fear of death. He was thoroughly conscious until within 
less than a minute of his death and told his family that as 
God called he was ready to go. x\t one time he told the 
attending physician not to give him any more medicine to 
revive him, as calling him back simply prolonged the agony 
for his family. In his closing hours there was no note of 
sadness, but one of triumph. 

Mr. Moody knew he was going, and he was most serene. 
Wednesday night he sent the members of his family out of 
his room and sent for his brother, and when the latter came 
in he said : "'You know what this means." He told his 
brother what he wanted done in many affairs. Friday at 
7:45 a. m., when alone with Will Moody, he said: "Earth 
is receding ; heaven is opening ; God is calling." Will told 
his father it was not as bad as that, and that he was dream- 
ing, but Mr. Moody replied: 'No, I am in the gates. I 
have seen the children,' referring to his two grandchildren, 
who died last year. 

"The family was hastily summoned, and as they gath- 
ered about his bed he said: 'No pain! No valley! Is this 
death? This isn't bad; it is sweet; this is bliss.' Later 
he said : 'This is my coronation day, and I have been look- 
ing forward to it for years.' Mrs. Moody seemed on the 
point of breaking down, and he said to her : 'Mamma, you 
were always afraid of sudden surprises. Brace yourself.' 

"He told his daughter, Mrs. Fitt, that he was going, and 
when she said they could not spare him he answered, sim- 
ply : 'God calls.' He was conscious almost to the last, but 
when the final summons came he was unconscious. His 
family knew when the end was close at hand, and all the 
members were present. His last breath was as one breath- 
ing in a peaceful sleep. 



MR. MOODY S SICKNESS AND DEATH. XXXV11 

Dr. Wood says the cause of his death was heart failure. 
He adds that the walls surrounding the heart were growing 
weaker and weaker. 

While it is true that Mr. Moody had symptoms of 
Bright's disease a few days ago, his death was due, the 
physicians say, to dilation of the heart. There had been 
dilation in a gradual way for the past nine years. The 
family had been told some time ago that Mr. Moody might 
get out and about, but still he was liable to drop away 
at any time. 

There were present in Mr. Moody's chamber when he 
died his wife, his daughter, Mrs. Fitt, and her husband, 
Mr. and Mrs. Will R. Moody, Paul Moody, the youngest 
son ; Dr. N. P. Wood and Miss Powers, the nurse. Mrs. 
Moody has carried herself during the sickness of her hus- 
band with the greatest bravery and patience, but when 
death came she was prostrated. Will Moody's wife is a 
daughter of D. W. Whittle, the evangelist. Paul Moody 
is a student at Yale. 



FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. 



The funeral, which was held at his late home Dec. 26, 
1899, was in keeping with his life. It was without show, 
yet was characterized by deep earnestness. The services 
at the house and at the grave were carried out according 
to his wishes, and the body was laid to rest in Little Round 
Top, where he had conducted so many meetings during his 
conference work. 

The services began with prayer at the house shortly 
after 10 o'clock in the morning. The Rev. Dr. C. J. Scho- 
field, pastor of the village church, read Mr. Moody's favor- 
ite texts from the scriptures, and the Rev. Dr. R. A. Torrey 
of the Moody Bible Institute, Chicago, offered prayer. 
The service was held in the parlor and was attended by 
many of the men who had been associated with Mr. Moody 
in the last years of his work. In the chamber directly 
overhead was the family, with the body of the deceased. 
Outside were gathered thirty-two members of Mr. Moody's 
school. 

At the close of the service they placed the casket on a bier 
thirty feet long and ten feet wide and covered with black, 
and bore it to the Congregational church, a mile distant. 
A. P. Fitt, who married Mr. Moody's only daughter, scat- 
tered white roses over the casket and bier before the pro- 
cession started for the church. In advance of the students 

xxxviii 



FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. XXXIX 

carrying the bier walked the Rev. Dr. Schofield and the 
Rev. Dr. Torrey, and in the rear were those who had been 
among Mr. Moody's closest friends and associates in his 
life work, among them Ira D. Sankey. 

Close to Mr. Sankey were George C. Stebbins and D. B. 
Tower, who for years had led the singing at Mr. Moody's 
Northfield conferences. Other well-known men in the 
procession were R. C. Morse, representing the International 
Young Men's Christian Association; Dr. W. McWilliams 
of New Jersey, and W. J. Ordman and George C. Need- 
ham of Philadelphia. 

It had been arranged that the body should lie in state 
at the church from 10 o'clock until after the service, but it 
was nearly noon before the sorrowful procession arrived. 
The body was placed in front of the little old-fashioned 
pulpit and the casket opened. On the plate was the in- 
scription : 

* + 

DWIGHT L. MOODY, 1837-1899. 



A floral offering from the bible institute of Chicago was 
placed at the foot of the casket, but there was no marked 
display of flowers in the church, it being Mr. Moody's wish 
that there should not be. The little church was crowded 
to the doors, all classes and conditions being represented. 
Mr. Moody's favorite hymn, "Rock of Ages," was sung by 
the Mount Hermon male quartet. 

The eulogy was delivered by the Rev. C. J. Schofield, 
who said of the dead evangelist: 

"We are met, dear friends, not to mourn a defeat, but 
to celebrate a triumph. 'He walked with God, and he was 
not, for God took him.' There in the west, in the presence 
of great audiences of 10,000 of his fellowmen, God spoke 
to him to lav it all down and come home, He would have 



XL FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. 

planned it so. This is not the place, nor am I the man to 
present a study of the life and character of Dwight L. 
Moody. No one will ever question that we are to-day 
laying in the kindly bosom of the earth the mortal body 
of a great man. 

"Whether we measure greatness by character, by quali- 
ties of intellect, or by things alone, Dwight L. Moody must 
be accounted great. The basis of Mr. Moody's character 
was sincerity, genuineness. He had an inveterate aversion 
to all forms of sham, unreality and pretense. Most of all 
did he detest religious pretense, cant. 

"Along with this fundamental quality Mr. Moody cher- 
ished a great love of righteousness. His first question 
concerning any proposed action was Ts it right?' but these 
two qualities, necessarily at the bottom of all noble char- 
acters, were in him suffused and transfigured by divine 
grace. Besides all this, Mr. Moody was in a wonderful 
degree brave, magnanimous and unselfish. Doubtless this 
unlettered New England country boy became what he was 
by the grace of God. 

"The secret of Dwight L. Moody's power lay: First, in 
a definite experience of Christ's saving grace. He had 
passed out of death into life and he knew it. Secondly, 
Mr. Moody believed in the divine authority of the scrip- 
tures. The bible was to him the verse of God, and he made 
it resound as such in the conscience of men. Thirdly, he 
was baptized with the Holy Spirit and knew that he was. It 
was to him as definite an experience as his conversion. 
Fourthly, he was a man of prayer. He believed in a living 
and unfettered God. But, fifthly, Mr. Moody believed in 
work, in ceaseless effort, in wise provision, in the power 
of organization, of publicity. 

"I like to think of Dwight L. Moody in heaven. I like 
to think of him with his Lord, and with Elijah, Daniel, Paul, 



THE FUNERAL AT EAST NORTHFIELD. XL1 

Augustine, Luther, Wesley and Finney. Farewell, for a 
little time, great heart. May a double portion of the spirit 
be vouchsafed to us who remain." 

The Rev. Mr. Torrey followed Dr. Schofield. His 
eulogy was based upon Mr. Moody's life exemplifying the 
grace of God. Following Mr. Torrey, remarks were made 
by the Rev. H. G. Weston of Crozier Theological seminary, 
Chester, Pa. ; the Rev. A. T. Pierson of Brooklyn, N. Y. ; 
Bishop Mallalieu of Boston and the Rev. J. W. Chapman 
of New York. 

The body was then carried to the burial place at Round 
Top. The chorus sang "J esus > Lover of My Soul," and 
after prayer and a benediction the body was lowered to its 
resting place. 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. 



In the good providence of God, the gospel preacher 
was given the gospel singer, that they might go forth to- 
gether, like the first disciples sent out by the Lord — double 
for fellowship, single in heart; to labor as yoke-fellows 
in the harvest-field in the world. The first, as we have 
seen, had been trained in the rugged school of adversity 
and self-denial, that he might bebold, self-reliant, patient, 
fearless, venturesome in deeds of faith, and tireless in 
labors of love, His companion, on the contrary, was 
reared under the hallowing influences of a happy, Chris- 
tian homestead, so that his whole character was mellowed 
by the sweetening experiences of a childhood and man- 
hood developed harmoniously and joyously. So strangely 
diverse was their training as individuals, yet so wiselv 
ordered were all the events of these isolated lives by the 
Master's hand, these two Christian workers, when joined 
together and tested, were found to be admirably fitted 
to supplement each others deficiencies, and thus to con- 
stitute a human instrumentality which the Lord could 
use for glorifying Himself and extending His kingdom 
upon earth. 

xLii 




IRA D. SANKEY PRESIDING AT THE ORGAN 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLlll 

Ira David Sankey was born on the 28th of August, 
1840. His birthplace was the village of Edinburgh, 
Lawrence county, in western Pennsylvania. On the 
paternal side, he came of English stock, and on the ma- 
ternal of Scotch-Irish. His parents were natives of Mer- 
cer county, and were members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. Out of their family of nine children, only 
three sons and one daughter grew up to maturity. David, 
the father, was well off in worldly circumstances, and in 
such good repute among his neighbors that they re- 
peatedly elected him a member of the state legislature. 
He was also a licensed exhorter of his own church. Thus 
the means and the character of this household were such 
as to insure ample advantages for culture in general 
knowledge and spiritual truth. 

Ira, from his childhood, was noted for his joyous spirit 
and trustful disposition. The sunshiny face that is so 
attractive in his public ministry has been a distinguishing 
feature from early boyhood, and very early won him the 
praise of being " the finest little fellow in the neighbor- 
hood." His father states, " There was nothing very re- 
markable in his early or boyhood history. The gift of 
singing developed in him at a very early age. I say gift, 
because it was God-given; he never took lessons from 
any one, but his taste for music was such that when a 
small boy he could make passable music on almost any 
kind of instrument." An old Scotch farmer, named Frazer, 
early interested himself in the little lad, and of his good 
influence Mr. Sankey thus spoke, at a children's meeting, 
held in the town of Dundee, Scotland. " The very first 
recollection I have of anything pertaining to religious 
life was in connection with him. I remember he took 



XL1V IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

me by the hand, along with his own boys, to the Sab- 
bath-school, that old place which I shall remember to 
my dying day. He was a plain man, and I can see him 
standing up and praying for the children. He had a 
great, warm heart, and the children all loved him. It 
was years after that when I was converted, but my im- 
pressions were received when I was very young from 
that man." 

Thus reared in a genial, religious atmosphere, liked 
and respected by all who knew him and accepted as a 
leader by his boyish comrades, Ira lived on till past his 
fifteenth year, before his soul was converted to Christ. 
His conviction as a sinner occurred while he attended a 
series of special services, held in a little church, three 
miles from his home, and of which Rev. H. H. Moore was 
then pastor. At first, he was as gay as his curious com- 
panions. But an earnest Christian met him each evening 
with a few soul-searching words; and after a week's hard 
struggle, he came as a sinner to the Savior and found 
peace in acceptance. Soon after, when his father re- 
moved to Newcastle, to assume the presidency of the 
bank, Ira became a member of the Methodist church 
and also a pupil at the academy at Newcastle. 

This young Christian was richly endowed with a talent 
for singing spiritual songs. His pure, beautiful voice 
gave a clear utterance to the emotions of his sympathetic, 
joyous nature, and was potent in carrying messages from 
his heart to the hearts of his hearers. It now became 
his delight to devote this precious gift to the service of 
his Lord, and it was his continual prayer that the Holy 
Spirit would bless the words sung to the conversion of 
those who flocked to the services to hear him. Before 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLV 

he attained his majority, he was appointed superintend- 
ent of the Sunday-school, which contained above three 
hundred scholars; and it was blessed with a continual re- 
vival. His singing of the gospel invitations in solos 
dates from this time. The sweet hymns were sung 
in the very spirit of prayer, and the faith of the 
singer was rewarded with repeated blessings. A class of 
seventy Christians was committed to his charge, and 
this weighty responsibility made him a more earnest 
student of the Holy Bible. He encouraged his class to 
tell him of their condition in Bible language, as texts 
abounded for every state of grace, and every description 
of religious feeling. The choir of the congregation also 
came under his leadership. Young as he was, he insisted 
on conduct befitting praise-singers in the house of God, 
and on a clear enunciation of each word sung. 

The congenial religious duties were suspended for a 
time by the call of the nation to arms upon the fall of 
Fort Sumpter. Mr. Sankey was among the first to vol- 
unteer for three months, and he served out his term of 
enlistment. Even in camp he gathered about him a 
band of singers, and was an earnest worker in the prayer- 
meetings of soldiers. Upon his return home, he became 
an assistant to his father as collector of internal revenue. 
He held that position with credit till his voluntary resig- 
nation, nearly ten years later. On the ninth of Septem- 
ber, 1863, he was married to Miss Edwards, a helpful 
member of his choir, and teacher in his school. Their 
happy family now contains three sons, of whom the 
youngest was born in Scotland, while the eldest, Henry, 
is already a boy evangelist, 

Mr. Sankey is an artless, and not an artistic singer. 



XLV1 IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

It has chanced that he has never studied music under a 
cultured teacher, and hence he has always relied upon 
his intuitive genius for song. He sings just like a nightin- 
gale, and pours forth his whole heart in a flood of melo- 
dy. And he does this, not for the sake of winning praise 
for the skill of his execution, or for the beauty of his rich 
baritone voice. Such a use would be a profanation of 
the talent which he has dedicated to the service of his 
Savior. His sole aspiration is that his song may be 
blessed to the bearing of gospel truth into the hearts of 
his audience. Hence he makes each articulation dis- 
tinct and audible, sings with the whole wealth of his 
heart, and hallows the hymn for good unto souls by se- 
cret prayer. 

As he sought only to honor his Lord, the latter has 
honored him before men. Conventions and other re- 
ligious gatherings became eager to have him lead their 
services of praise, and he kept all such engagements with- 
out making any charge. He assisted in organizing a 
Young Men's Christian association at Newcastle, and 
was elected president. In June, 1 871, he was appointed 
its delegate to the international convention, which met 
in Indianapolis. It was there that he first met Mr. 
Moody, and heard a call from him to give his whole time 
henceforth to working for the Master. At the early 
prayer- meeting, the singing was dull and doleful, until 
Mr. Sankey was called forward to act as leader. His 
sweet voice and fervid spirit at once brought the bold 
evangelist to his side. " Where do you live ?" asked Mr. 
Moody, bluntly. " In Newcastle, Pennsylvania." "Are 
you married?" "Yes." "How many children have 
you?" "One." " I want you." " What for? " "To 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLV11 

help me in my work in Chicago. " ' 'I cannot leave my 
business." " You must; I have been looking for you for 
the last eight years. You must give up your business, 
and come to Chicago with me." "I will think of it; I 
will pray over it; I will talk it over with my wife." 

Prayer and reflection deepened the conviction which 
this call made on Mr. Moody's heart. With painful re- 
luctance, he severed the associations so dear to him, at 
his home, and in the spirit of faith joined Mr. Moody in 
his vast labors as an evangelist in Chicago. His tender 
sympathy and loving manner qualified him to give just 
the sweet melody needed to modulate the fiery boldness 
of the lay preacher. Here they worked together in har- 
mony, and were blessed with many souls as their hire, 
until the city of Chicago was swept by a storm of fire in 
the following October. These companions then lost all 
their possessions and had to separate. Mr. Sankey now 
rejoined his family in Pennsylvania, and set about sing- 
ing for conventions again, until a telegram from Mr. 
Moody, three months later, to " come at once," recalled 
him to the work of the new tabernacle in Chicago. This 
disaster strengthened instead of shattering the trustful 
faith of these evangelists, for it opened the hearts of the 
people more readily to receive their message of the Savior's 
love, and made the frame building a sanctuary for re- 
lieving the bodily and spiritual wants of multitudes of the 
homeless. 

Just in the midst of this season of trial Mr. Sankey 
was very much encouraged by the testimony of a little 
dying girl. This incident, which was destined to have 
an effect upon his whole after life, was thus narrated by 
him at Dundee, Scotland. ' l I want to speak a word 



XLV111 IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

about singing, not only to little folks, but to grown peo- 
ple. During the winter, after the great Chicago fire, 
when the place was built up with little frame houses for 
the people to stay in, a mother sent for me, one day, to 
come and see her little child, who was one of our Sab- 
bath-school scholars. I remembered her very well, hav- 
ing seen her in the meetings very frequently, and was 
glad to go. She was lying in one of those poor little 
huts, everything having been burned in the fire. I ascer- 
tained that she was past all hope of recovery, and that they 
were waiting for the little one to pass away. i How is it 
with you to-day?' I asked. With a beautiful smile on 
her face, she said, ' It is all well with me to-day. I wish 
you would speak to my father and my mother.' 'But,' 
said I, ' are you a Christian?' ' Yes.' * When did you be- 
come one? ' Do you remember last Thursday in the ta- 
bernacle, when we had that little singing meeting, and 
you sang, " Jesus loves even me?" 'Yes.' ' It was last 
Thursday. I believed on the Lord Jesus, and now I am 
going to be with Him to-day.' That testimony from that 
little child in that neglected quarter of Chicago has done 
more to stimulate me and bring me to this country 
than all that the papers or any persons might say. I re- 
member the joy I had in looking upon that beautiful 
face. She went up to heaven, and no doubt said she 
learned upon earth that Jesus loved her from that little 
hymn. If you want to enjoy a blessing, go to the bed- 
sides of these bedridden and dying ones, and sing to them 
of Jesus, for they cannot enjoy these meetings as you do. 
You will get a great blessing to your own souls." 

The joy of having this first convert through his own 
ministry of song led the gospel singer to a more thor- 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. XLlX 

ough reliance on the leading of his Master, and a still 
deeper study of God's word. When Mr. Moody paid a 
visit to England in the spring of 1872, his yokefellow 
was naturally left to act as leader in the services at the 
tabernacle. His leisure hours, at this time, were spent 
in gathering a number of spirited hymns that appeared 
to be adapted for evangelistic services, and in fitting a 
few of them with appropriate music. These were ar- 
ranged into a "Musical Scrap Book," and that was the 
only book, besides his Bible, that he took with him on 
the voyage of faith across the Atlantic. Among these 
sacred songs were P. P. Bliss' " Hold the Fort," " Jesus 
Loves Even Me," and "Free from the Law;" Mrs. Dr. 
Griswold's " We're Going Home To-morrow;" Mrs. E. 
Codner's "Lord I hear Showers of Blessing;" Mrs. 
W. S. Ackerman's " Nothing but Leaves;" Rev. S. Low- 
ry's "Shall we Gather at the River?" Miss Anna War- 
ner's "One More Day's Work for Jesus;" Kate Har- 
sley's " I Love to Tell the Story; " Mrs. A. S. Hawks' 
"I Need Thee Every Hour;" Mrs. Lydia Baxter's 
" Take the Name of Jesus with You;" Mrs. Emily S. 
Oakey's " Sowing the Seed by the Daylight Fair; " Fan- 
ny J. Crosby's " Safe in the Arms of Jesus" and. "Pass 
Me Not, O Gentle Savior;" Rev. Joseph H. Gilmore's 
" He Leadeth Me; "and Rev. W. W. Walford's " Sweet 
Hour of Prayer." 

Two other chief favorites of his selection were " Nine- 
ty and Nine'' and "Jesus of Nazareth PassethBy." The 
first of these was written by Miss Eliza C. Clephane, of 
Melrose, Scotland, in 1868, and was printed a little 
while before her death, in the Daily Treasury, edited by 
Dr. Arnott. Six years elapsed before it came, provider!- 



L IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

tially, to Mr. Sankey's notice, while he was in Scotland. 
It chanced that he bought among other religious week- 
lies a copy of The Christian Age, of London, of the date 
of May 13, 1874, and found the ''Ninety and Nine" re- 
printed as a poetical waif. He was at once so im- 
pressed with its value for his mission of gospel song that 
he composed an air for it, and sang it three days later in 
the Free Assembly hall, Edinburgh. A letter of thanks 
from the sister of the poet gave him the facts of its au- 
thorship, and led to receipt of one other precious hymn, 
" Beneath the Cross of Jesus." Miss Campbell was the 
author of "Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." Her heart 
was deeply moved by a revival at Newark, N. J., in 
1864, and her imagination was fired by an address by R. 
G. Pardee, on the reply to blind Bartimeus: "They 
told him that Jesus of Nazareth passeth by." The 
second stanza is given herewith, as it is omitted in the 
common version: 

" E'en children feel the potent spell, 

And h«.ste their new-found joy to tell; 

In crowds they to the place repair 

Where Christians daily bow in prayer, 

Hosanna's mingle with the cry; 

' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.' " 

In the spring of 1873, two paths of usefulness were 
opened to the choice of Mr. Sankey. His brother evan- 
gelist desired his aid for a gospel visitation to Great 
Britain, while Philip Phillips offered him brilliant pros- 
pects for a singing term of six months on the Pacific 
coast. His decision was destined to be of great moment 
to the welfare of his generation. He looked to prayer 
for guidance, and then was led to adopt this advice of a 
friend: " Two workers in the same line, especially two 
singers, are sure not to agree. Go with Moody; then 
you can do your work, and he can do his, and there will 
be no occasion of conflict between vou." So attended 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. Ll^ 

by his little family, he trustfully set forth on a journey 
of four thousand miles, on a mission of gospel evangel- 
ization which was to attain far grander results for good 
than one could dare to hope. 

The joyous, prayerful singing of the gospel in hymns 
by Mr. Sankey came like a revelation of unexpected 
truth and grace to the Scottish and English peoples. In 
Scotland, especially, to the sujprise of all who are ac- 
quainted with the cautious, distrustful and clannish char- 
acter of the followers of John Knox, the masses were 
moved with an indiscribable impulse. The unimpas- 
sioned worshipers, who had been accustomed for gener- 
ations to reject as uninspired all other services of praise 
than their own rude, unpoetic version of the psalms, 
now listened with a hungry delight to the testimonies of 
the most gifted Christian singer of the age, His intense 
earnestness made the old, old story enter as a divine 
message into the consciences and hearts of those who 
came to hear him out of curiosity, or as doubters. Thus 
the singing of hymns and the use of a melodeon as an ac- 
companiment were welcomed at sight with a heartiness 
that dissipated the prejudicies of centuries. 

One of his hearers, Mrs. Barbour, thus described the 
abiding impressions made on his audiences at Edinburgh- 
" Mr. Sankey sings with the conviction that souls are 
receiving Jesus between one note and the next. The still- 
ness is overawing; some of the lines are more spoken than 
sung. The hymns are equally used for awakening, none 
more than ' Jesus of Nazareth passeth by.' When you 
hear the ' Ninety and Nine ' sung, you know of a truth 
that down in this corner, up in that gallery, behind that 
pillar which hides the singer's face from the listener, the 



Lll IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

hand of Jesus has been finding this and that and yonder 
lost one, to place them in His fold. A certain class of 
hearers come to the services solely to hear Mr. Sankey, 
and the song throws the Lord's net around them. We 
asked Mr. Sankey one day what he was tc sing. He 
said, ' I'll not know till I hear how Mr. Moody is clos- 
ing.' Again, we were driving to the Canongate Parish 
church one winter night, and Mr. Sankey said to the 
young minister who had come for him, ' I'm thinking of 
singing, ' I am so glad to night.' ' O,' said the young 
man, please do rather sing, 'Jesus of Nazareth.' An old 
man told me to day that he had been awakened by it the 
last night you were down. He said, ' It just went through 
me like an electric shock.' A gentleman in Edinburgh 
was in distress of soul, and happened to linger in a pew 
after the noon meeting. The choir had remained to 
practice, and began * Free from the Law, O happy con- 
dition.' Quickly the Spirit of God carried that truth 
home to the awakened conscience, and he was at rest in 
the finished work of Jesus." 

" The wave of sacred song, " she added, "has spread 
over Ireland, and it is now sweeping through England. 
But, indeed, it is not being confined to the United King- 
dom alone. Far away off on the shores of India, and in 
many other lands, these sweet songs of a Savior's love 
are being sung. Mr. Sankey's collection of sacred songs 
has been translated into five or six languages, and are 
winging their way into tens of thousands of hearts and 
homes, and the blessing of the Lord seems to accompany 
them wherever sung." 

At a noonday prayer-meeting, when the hymn 

" Sowing the seed by the daylight fair," 



IRA DAVID SANKEY. Llll 

was announced for singing, Mr. Sankey spoke as fol- 
lows: " Before we sing this hymn, I will tell you one 
reason why we should sing these hymns. It is because 
God is blessing them to many a poor wanderer who 
comes to this building night after night. Last week a 
man who had once occupied a high position in life came 
into this hall, and sat down. While I was singing this 
hymn he took out his pass-book and wrote out these 
words — 

" 'Sowing the seed of a lingering pain, 
Sowing the seed of a maddening brain, 
Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
Sowing the seed of eternal shame; 
O, what shall the harvest be?' " 

"Last night, that man in the inquiry-room went on 
his knees, and asked God to break the chain that had 
dragged him down from such a high position to the low- 
est of the low. He said he had resolved when he went 
out of that praise-meeting that he would cease to indulge 
in the intoxicating cup; but before he went home he went 
into a saloon, and broke his resolution. We prayed for 
him last night. He is now praying that God may break 
his chain. I want to pray that this brand may be 
plucked from the burning, and that God may use these 
gospel hymns to turn the hearts of sinful men." 

A touching account has been given in an English jour- 
nal of the last hours of a young girl only ten years old, 
who had listened in delight to Mr. Sankey's singing. 
" O, how I love those dear hymns," said she. "When 
I am gone, mother, will you ask the girls of the school 
to sing the hymn: 



L1V IRA DAVID SANKEY. 

" 'Ring the bells of heaven! there is joy to-day, 
For a soul returning from the wild; 
See! the father meets him out upon the way, 
Welcoming his weary wandering child.' " 

The night before her death she said: "Dear father 
and mother, I hope I shall meet you in heaven! I am 
so happy mother! You cannot think how bright and 
happy I feel." Again, " Perhaps Jesus may send me to 
fetch some of my brothers and sisters. I hope He will 
send me to fetch you, mother." 

Half an hour before her departure, she exclaimed, 
"O, mother, hark at the bells of heaven! they are 
ringing so beautifully. " 

Then, closing her eyes awhile, presently she cried 
again, "Hearken to the harps! the} 7 are most splendid. 
O, how I wish you could hear them!" 

Then, shortly after, she spoke again, "O mother, 
I see the Lord Jesus and the angels! O, if you could 
see them too! He is sending one to fetch me!" 

She had been counting the hours and minutes since 
she had heard the mill-bell at half-past one p. M., long- 
ing so earnestly to depart, yet expressed a hope she might 
see her dear father (then absent at work) before she went. 
At last, just five minutes or so before her expiring breath, 
she said, ■ ' O mother, lift me up from the pillow — high, 
high up! O, I wish you could lift me right up into 
heaven!" Then, almost immediately after, as doubtless 
conscious that the parting moment was at hand, " Put 
me down again — down quick!" Then calmly, brightly, 
joyously, gazing upward as at some vision of surprising 
beauty, she peacefully, sweetly, triumphantly breathed 
forth her precious spirit into the arms of the ministering 
angels whom Jesus had sent to fetch her; and so was for- 
ever with the Lord she loved. 




I Am the Way.' 



MOODY'S 

GOSPEL SERMONS. 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 

I have selected to-day a subject rather than a text. 
We have come to this city to preach Christ, and I want 
to commence the services by just asking this congrega- 
tion what Christ is to you. And now if we can get right 
home to ourselves to begin with, we will save a good 
deal of time. One of the most difficult things we have 
in preaching the gospel is to get people to hear for them- 
selves. They are willing to hear for other people. I 
once read of a colored minister who said that a good 
many of his congregation would be lost because they 
were too generous; and the way he explained it was that 
they were too generous with the sermon; that they 
generally gave the sermon to their friends and neighbors, 
and did not take it home to themselves. And there are 
a great many white people, I think, who are just as gen- 
erous as the colored people. They are always generous 
with the sermon. They are willing to give it to any one. 
It is always good for some one else. They are willing 
to lend their ears for any one else, but it is very hard for 
them to take it home to themselves. 

17 



1 8 Moody's sermons. 

Now, to-day, we want, if possible, to have every man, 
woman and child in this congregation ask this 
question, " What is Christ to me? Not to my neighbor, 
not to the world, but what is He to me? " Who is He 
and what is He? I wish I could just lodge the subject 
right into your hearts to begin with. Now, don't think 
that will be good for some one behind you. Don't pass the 
text over your shoulder to some one else behind you. He 
will pass it to some one behind him, and, as is often done, 
pass it along out doors, and away it goes; they forget all 
about the text, the sermon and everything. 

Now, let the question come to each one, "What is 
Jesus Christ to me? " I would like to tell you what He 
has been to me since I have known Him. And I think if 
any man here to-day wants to know Christ, he must first 
know him as a Savior. " His name shall be called 
Jesus, for He shall save his people from their sins." It 
is the only name given under heaven — it cannot be said 
of any other man; it is not said of Moses; it is not said 
of Elijah; it is not said of any of the prophets or patri- 
archs or apostles that they could save men — not any 
other name among men under heaven or in heaven that 
can save.the sinner, but the name of Jesus. 

And if we are to know Him as our redeemer, and if 
we are to know Him as our deliverer, and if we are to 
know Him as our shepherd, and our great high priest, 
and our prophet, and our king, we must first know Him 
as our Savior. We must meet Him on the cross first. 
We must see Him at Calvary putting away sin, and 
when we have seen Him as our Savior, then we go on 
and He unfolds Himself to us, and we see Him in a 
great many other lights. 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 1 9 

Now, He is more than a Savior. I might see a man 
drowning. I might plunge into the stream and rescue 
that man. I might save the man from drowning, but 
then I would leave him there on the banks, and he would 
have to make the rest of the journey of life without me. 
But the Son of God is more than a Savior. After He 
has saved, He not only is with us, but He delivers us 
from the power of sin. He is a deliverer from sin. I 
believe there are a great many people that have gone 
to Calvary. They have seen Christ as their Savior, but 
they forget that He is a deliverer, and wants to deliver 
them from the power of sin. I don't believe that He 
comes down here and pardons us and then leaves us in 
prison. I don't believe He comes down here and snaps 
fetters and then leaves us in bondage. When the chil- 
dren of Israel were put behind the blood down there in 
Goshen, God said, ' ' When I see the blood, I will pass 
over you." The blood was their savior, the blood was 
their salvation. But then He did something more when 
He took them out of Goshen, and when He took them 
out of Egypt, and away from their taskmasters, and out 
of the land of bondage. Then He was their deliverer. 
When they came to the Red sea, and the mountains 
were on each side of them, and Pharaoh with his hosts 
coming on in the rear, and the Red sea before them — 
then it was that they wanted a deliverer. And I venture 
to say a good many of the children of God have known 
what it is to come to the Red sea. You have known 
what it was to be where you could only look up and cry 
to God to deliver you. You could not turn to the right; 
you could not turn to the left; you could not turn back; 
and the Almighty God has come and opened the Red 
sea, and you have passed over dry-shod. 



20 MOODY S SERMONS. 

But when He delivered them from the hands of the 
king and from their taskmasters, and brought them out 
of the house of bondage, and brought them through the 
Red sea, He became something else to them; He became 
then their way. 

Now, you very often hear people say, ' ' I don't know 
as I will become a Christian. I don't know really what 
church to belong to." They will give that as an excuse. 
I have heard more men give that as an excuse, than any- 
thing else. They say there are so many different denomi- 
nations now, and there are so many different churches, 
that they don't know what to believe. I am very thank- 
ful that the Lord has not left us in darkness about that 
at all. It is no excuse at all. A man can't stand up at 
the door of heaven and say " I didn't become a Christ- 
ian because I did not know the right way." 

Now, people say there are so many different denomi- 
nations. "There are the Methodists. John Wesley 
was a little nearer right than the rest of you. I will 
join the Methodists." Then there are our good Baptist 
brethren They say their way is the best way. li . You 
had better be immersed and come in through our door. " 

And there is our Episcopal brother. He says, " If you 
want to come into the true apostolic church, you have 
got to join the Episcopal Church." 

And up steps a Roman Catholic and says, "If you 
want to come into the true apostolic church, you have 
got to become a Roman Catholic." 

And then there are the Presbyterians, and they tell 
you that John Calvin is better than any of them, and 
you must go the Calvin way. 

And so they say there are so many different denomina- 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 21 

tions, so many different ways, that they don't know what 
church to join. 

Now, my friends, listen to what the Son of God says, 
11 I am the way." And if I follow Him I will be in the 
right church; He will not lead me into error; He will not 
lead me into darkness. He leads out of darkness; He 
leads out of bondage. He leads into liberty and into 
light, and He is the only man who ever trod on this 
earth that it is safe to follow in all things. If I follow 
any man but Jesus Christ, I will get into darkness and 
bondage. If I follow the isms of the day and nothing 
else, they will lead me out into black darkness. But if 
I follow the Son of God, He leads me into life and light 
immortal out of darkness. 

As I walked through this hall yesterday morning, I 
stood and looked up there, and I saw a text, and I said, 
' ' That is a good text for me. " It says, ' ' I am the way. ' 
There is life in those words. " I am the way," says the 
Son of God. Follow Him, and you will be in the right 
church. And when a man is willing to bow his will to 
God's will and say, " Lord Jesus, I am willing to follow 
Thee, to receive Thee," then he will be in the right 
church; there will be no trouble then. He submits his 
will to God's will, and submits his way to God's way, and 
takes God's way. 

You know that God knows a great deal more about 
this earth than you and I do. God knew a great deal 
more about the pitfalls in the wilderness, and knew all 
about that perilous way when He led the children of 
Israel. He led them by a pillar of fire by night and a 
pillar of cloud by day; and all they had to do was to 
keep their eye on that cloud. When the cloud moved, 



22 MOODY S SERMONS. 

they moved; when the cloud rested, they rested. 

Now, all we have got to do is to keep our eye on the 
Master. Follow Him. He don't ask us to go where He 
has not gone Himself. He don't go around and drive 
you and me; but He says, " Follow thou me." And if a 
man will become His disciple and follow in His path, he 
may put his feet right in His foot-prints and follow Him. 

You know out on the frontiers you will find there the 
Indian trail; and I am told by some of those men who 
have been in that country there, that even over the 
Rocky mountains it looks as though only one man had 
trod that path. The chief goes on before, and the rest 
follow and put their feet right in the foot-prints of the 
chief. So the captain of our salvation has gone before 
in the path, and if I follow Him I will have the life and 
the peace that is promised to every child of God. 

But then He is more than the way. You know 7 He 
might be the way, and the way might be very dark, but 
He says, • ' I am the light of life, and if any man follow 
Me, he shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the 
light of life." 

Now, it is impossible for any man to be in darkness 
while following Jesus Christ. Why? Because He is the 
light of the world. What that sun is in yonder heavens 
to the solar system, so Christ is to the spiritual world. 
There is a picture in some of your homes. If a man 
should give it to me, I don't know what I would do with 
it; I would have to put it up the wrong way, the face to- 
ward the wall. I don't know what the artist was think- 
ing about when he got that picture up. It is a beautiful 
work of art, a beautiful steel engraving and represents 
Jesus Christ standing at the door of a man's cottage with 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 23 

a lantern in his hand, knocking. What does Christ want 
with a lantern? You might as well hold a lantern to the 
sun. He says, "I am the light of the world." What 
we want is to keep our eye right upon Him. He will 
give us light. There is no such thing as a man being in 
darkness that is following him. If there is a man or 
woman in this audience to-day that is in darkness about 
spiritual things, it is because they have got away from 
Him; it is because they have not followed Him; it is 
because they have not got their eye upon Him. That is 
what brings the darkness, and what He wants is to have 
each one of us just to keep our eye upon Him and follow 
Him. 

But then I can imagine I hear some of you say, "If 
you had the trouble I have had, you would not talk in 
that way. If you were in my condition, you would not 
talk in that way." I remember, during our war, I was 
attending a meeting; it was the first year of the war. Our 
armies had been repulsed in the west; had been repulsed 
in the east, and it looked very dark. It looked as if 
this republic was going to pieces. Every one that got 
up to speak at that meeting had his harp upon the willow. 
It was a doleful meeting. But at last an old man got up; 
he had a beautiful white beard, and he gave us young 
men a lecture. Says he, " You don't talk like the chil- 
dren of light; don't talk like sons of the King. We be- 
long to the kingdom of God." Says he, "There is no 
darkness there. If it happens to be dark right around 
you, it is light somewhere else. If it is dark down here, 
look up; there is the light. Our home is up there." 
After rebuking us for our want of faith and our finding- 
fault, he said he had just come from the east; that he 



24 MOODY S SERMONS. 

had been induced by some friends to go to one of the 
eastern mountain peaks to see the sun rise. He said he 
went to the half-way house and made arrangements with 
the landlord to take him up before daybreak, to get into 
the mountain to see the sun rise. The guide went 
before, holding the lantern. He said they had not been 
gone a great while before a storm came up, and it began 
to thunder, began to rain, and he said to the guide, 
"This storm will prevent my seeing the sun rise this 
morning, and you had better take me back." The guide 
smiled and said, " I think we will get above this storm,' 
and sure enough we got above the clouds and above the 
storm. On the mountain peak it was as calm as any 
summer evening in his life. As he looked down into the 
clouds, he saw the lightning playing up and down the 
valley, but he said it was all calm on the mountain peak, 
and turning to us he said, " Young men, if it is dark in 
the valley, look higher up; climb a little higher up and 
get on the mountain peak." And as the highest moun- 
tain peaks catch the first rays of the morning sun, so 
those who live nearest to heaven — nearest to Christ — 
get the first news from heaven. It is the privilege of 
every child of God to walk in an unclouded sun, in per- 
petual light. I believe it has done more to retard the 
cause of Christ and Christianity than any one thing — 
our being so despondent, looking on the dark side, leav- 
ing the author of life, and light and going in the by-ways 
with our heads down like a bulrush. Let us remember, 
my friends, that Christ is the light of the world. If we 
follow Him we shall not be in darkness, but shall have 
the light of life. 

It is said of some men away out on the frontier, that 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 2$ 

when they want to go off in the wilderness hunting, 
where there is no road or path, they take an ax or 
hatchet, and they cut off the bark of a tree, and they 
call that blazing the way. So the Son of God has been 
down in this dark world. He has " blazed the way," led 
captivity captive. He has traveled this wilderness and 
gone up on high. All we have to do is to follow Him. 
If we keep our eye right on Him, we will have light all 
the while. 

I remember when I was a boy I used to try to walk 
across a field after the snow had fallen, and try to make 
a straight path; and as long as I kept my eye on a point 
at the other side of the field, I could make a straight 
path, but if I looked over my shoulder to see if I was 
walking straight, I Would always walk crooked, always. 
And where I find people turning around to see how 
others walk, they always walk crooked. But if you 
want to walk straight through this world, keep your eye 
on the captain of your salvation, who has gone within 
the vale. Just keep your eye on Him, and you will have 
peace and light. 

I remember when I was a little boy, I used to try to 
catch my shadow. I used to try to see it. I could not 
jump over my head. I ran and jumped, but my head 
always kept just so far ahead of me. I never could 
catch my shadow, but I remember when I was a little 
boy, I was running with my face toward the sun, and I 
looked over my shoulder, and I found my shadow coming- 
after me. 

And I find, since I became a Christian, that if I keep 
my eye on the Son of Righteousness, peace and light 
and joy, and everything follow in the train; but if I get 



26 Moody's sermons. 

my eye off Him, I always get in darkness and trouble. 
So if you want to keep in the light, keep your eye fixed 
on the Son of Righteousness and follow Him. 

Now, we have Him as our Savior; we have Him as our 
deliverer; we have Him as our way; we have Him as our 
truth, because He is the truth. If you want to know 
what is truth, Christ is the embodiment of truth; if you 
want to know the truth, know Him. There is no error in 
Him. He taught no false doctrine. He taught truth. 
And if you want to know the truth, know Him. He 
says, ■ ' I am the truth. " He is the very embodiment of 
it. And if people say, "But I have not got life, I have 
not got spiritual power," well, He is the life, and if you 
have not got spiritual power, it is because you have not 
got enough of Christ. If you want spiritual life more 
abundantly, let Christ come into your heart and reign 
without a rival. He is the life of the world, and when 
man goes away from Him, he goes away from the life 
and the power. 

But, then, He is something else. Perhaps some of you 
have come to a fork in the road sometimes, and you 
have not known just which way to turn. I was going to 
a little town last month to preach the gospel, and I 
came over a bridge, and I came to a road that ran right 
across mine, and which way to turn I did not know. 
There was no guide-post there, and I did not know 
which way to go. Well, I am talking, perhaps, to a 
good many in this audience that have come to such a 
fork in their spiritual life. You have come to a place 
where you have not known which way to turn. Well, 
right in here we read that Christ is a teacher. God sent 
Him down to be our teacher, to be our counselor and to 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 2J 

be our guide, and if we will have Him, He will guide us 
and teach us the right thing. He did not teach as the 
Scribes did; He taught with the authority God had given 
Him. He did not teach opinions. Men come along 
now and they teach their opinions. I would rather have, 
"Thus saith the Lord," than all their opinions. It is 
not what man says, but what God says, and when He 
teaches us, my friends, He will teach us the right way. 
Therefore we want to take Him as our teacher — our 
guide. I have never known a man, I don't care how 
skeptical he has been, if he is willing to let the Lord 
teach him the way, but what the Lord has taught him. 
If a skeptic has come in hereto-day, just out of curiosity, 
I would like to get his ear for about five minutes; I 
would like to say to him that the God that made you 
can teach you if you will let Him. The greatest trouble 
with infidelity is its miserable conceit. Infidels are so 
conceited that they think they are wiser than Almighty 
God; they are not willing to let the God who created 
them teach them. They forget that when man fell in 
Eden his reason fell with him. They forget that the God 
of heaven and earth is greater than their reason, and 
that God is above their reason. 

I was in a little town in Illinois a number of years 
ago, when I first commenced to work for the Lord. I 
could not preach, but got up little meetings and talked. 
There was a lady came to me just as the meeting was 
breaking up, and says, ' ' Mr. Moody, I wish you would 
come and see my husband and talk with him about his 
soul." Well, I consented. I saw she was greatly 
burdened. I went to take down his name. She gave 
me the name, and I said to her, ' 4 You will excuse me, 



28 Moody's sermons. 

I can't go to see that man." She says, " Why not?" 
" Why, he is a book infidel; a graduate of one of the 
eastern colleges, and I am a mere stripling — a boy; I 
can't go and meet him." "Well," she says, " I would 
like to have you go, Mr. Moody, and talk to him about 
his soul." " Well," I says, " you had better have some 
one older; I can't meet him in argument." She says, 
" It is not argument he wants; he has had enough of that; 
he wants some one to invite him to Christ." She urged 
so hard, I went down to see him. I went into his office; 
I shook hands, introduced myself, and after I did so I 
told him my errand. He laughed at me, thought I had 
come on a foolish errand. He did not believe in Christ 
or in Christianity; he didn't believe in the Bible. I talked 
to him a little while, and brought out some of his infidel 
views. I said, ' ' Judge, I will be honest with you; I can't 
argue with you; I can't meet you in argument," and the 
man seemed to grow two inches right off. It is astonish- 
ing how these men do grow when they find somebody they 
can handle in argument. I said, " I can't meet you; I will 
be frank with you." He had been one of our leading men 
in the country, and I knew about his intellect. He had a 
very brilliant mind. He had been one of our supreme 
judges; he had been mayor of the city he lived in, had 
been a member of the state senate a good many years, and 
he was a public man; and I said it was impossible for me 
to bring forward the arguments that I would like to, and 
therefore, he would have to excuse me, and I says, 
14 Judge, there is just one favor I would like to ask of 
you." Says he, " What is that?" " When you are con- 
verted, let me know." " Well," says he, " I will let you 
know when I am converted. I will grant that request,'' 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 29 

with a good deal of sarcasm. I went out of his office, 
and I heard the clerks snickering when I went out. I 
suppose they thought I had made a fool of myself. 

But a year and a half after, I was back in that city. I 
was the guest of a friend, and while I was in the sitting- 
room, a servant came and said there was a man in the 
parlor that wanted to see me. I stepped into the parlor, 
and there was the old judge. He says, "When I saw 
you last I told you when I was converted I would let you 
know. I have come to-day to tell you I have been con- 
verted." I had heard it from the lips of others, but I 
wanted to get it from his own lips. Says I, " Judge, I 
wish you would tell the whole story; tell all about it." 
He took his seat and he says, "Well, I will tell you; 
my wife and children had gone out to meeting one night, 
and there was no one in the house but the servant and 
myself, and I got to thinking." I tell you it is a good 
thing to get men to thinking; there is always hope of 
reaching men if you get them to thinking, especially in 
America. They are after the money, and they can't stop 
to think. They are on the dead run, and if you can stop 
them on a corner and get their attention five minutes you 
are doing well in this country. And he got to thinking 
and reasoning with himself — and I tell you it is a good 
thing to get a man to reasoning with himself. That is 
the best kind of reasoning — and he said to himself, 
"Well, now, supposing that my wife and my children 
are right, and I am wrong. Supposing they are all on 
their way to heaven, as they profess to think, and I am 
on my way to hell." " Why," said he, "I just dismissed 
that thought at once." He said he did not believe there 
was any hell. 



30 Moody's sermons. 

The next thought came, " Well, judge, do you believe 
there is a God that created you? " " Yes," he said. " I 
believe that. This world never happened by chance. 
Everything in this world teaches me that there is an 
overruling power, and there is a creator. This world 
was not thrown together. There must have been a 
creator.'* Then the next thought came, "If there is a 
creator, and one that created you, the one that created 
you could teach you." " Well," he said, "that is so. 
The God that created me could teach me." And he 
smiled and said, " The fact was, Mr. Moody, I thought 
nobody could teach me. I sat there by the fire. I was 
too proud to get down on my knees. I said, " O God, 
teach me! " It was an honest prayer. And if there is 
an honest infidel here to-day who will make that prayer 
out of the depths of his heart, God will teach him more 
in five minutes than all the infidels can teach him in 
twenty years. He will teach you true wisdom. It is so 
reasonable that the God that created the heavens and 
the earth can teach mortal men. He said God began to 
teach him, and he began to see himself in a different 
light. He had been, he said, a very righteous man in 
his own estimation. He thought he was one of the best 
men that ever lived. But he said he began to see him- 
self a sinner. That was something new; and he said 
there was a burden right here. He said he had never 
felt any burden there before, and he said things began to 
look very dark. Things had always looked very bright 
before. And he said he thought his wife might come 
home and see that something ailed him — that he was 
troubled. So he said he went to bed, and he pretended 
to sleep; but he did not sleep a wink that night; but be- 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 3 I 

fore morning he began to pray, " O God, save me! Take 
away this burden of guilt! Take away this load of sin! " 
But he said he didn't believe in Jesus Christ; he didn't 
want any days-man between him and God; didn't want 
any mediator; he was going right straight to the Father; 
he was going to settle the question without Christ. But 
the load grew heavier, and it grew darker and darker. He 
said when the morning came he got up and dressed and 
said to his wife he was not feeling very well; he would 
not stay at home to breakfast. He wanted to get out of 
the way, and went down to his office. The old judge 
kept on crying, "O God, take away this burden! O 
God, forgive me! " He had waked up to the fact that he 
wanted forgiveness like other people. He went into his 
office. Men came to see him on business, but he could 
not do any business. He tried to tell his clerks what to 
do, but could not tell them. He told them they might 
take a holiday, and he locked the door of his office and 
got down on his knees and cried, " For Jesus Christ's 
sake take away this load of sin." He said there was a 
bundle rolled off when he arose from his knees, and said 
his heart was as light as air. Says he, "I wonder if 
this is not what my wife has been praying for these years 
— if it is not what the Christians call conversion. I will 
go and ask the minister where my wife attends church if 
I ain't converted." And he said on the way to the min- 
ister's house a text of Scripture came to his mind that his 
mother had taught him forty years before. O mothers, 
teach your children the word of God; it may spring up 
after many years; it may bear fruit unto life eternal after 
you are dead and gone. That text of Scripture that 
mother taught that little boy in childhood was, "When 



32 MOODY S SERMONS. 

you pray believe you will receive what you ask for, and 
you have it." And he said, " I have asked God to for- 
give my sins, and I am going up to ask the minister if 
my prayer is answered, I believe that is dishonoring 
God. I am a Christian," and he says, " I started home.' 
His wife saw him coming. She knew how he went off, 
and thought he was coming home sick; she met him at 
the door and said to him, " My dear, are you sick?" He 
looked up and said: " No, I have been converted." He 
says: " Mr. Moody, twenty-one long years that wife 
had prayed for me, and she could not believe her ears 
when I told her I was converted. She said, ' Come into 
the drawing- room.' I knelt down and made my first 
prayer with my wife." He erected a family altar. That 
old infidel judge said, "Mr. Moody, I have had more 
enjoyment in the last three months than in all the rest 
of my life put together." If there is an honest skeptic 
here to-day let God Almighty be your teacher; ask Him 
to teach you; ask Him to give you light beyond the 
grave; He has got the power. If you want true wisdom 
go to Him, He will open your darkened understanding 
and cause you to understand wonderful things. When I 
have been willing to let Him teach me I have had per- 
fect peace. But whenever I had gone against His counsel 
and against His teaching it brought me to captivity; it 
has brought me into bondage and into darkness. 

When Nicodemus was willing to let that rabbi teach 
him, he taught him true wisdom, taught him the doctrine 
of the new birth, taught him that he must be born again. 

I might go on and speak of him as a shepherd. I have 
known him now upwards of twenty years as a shepherd. 
He has carried my burdens for me. O, it is so sweet 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 33 

to know that you have one to whom you can go and tell 
all your sorrows! You can roll your burdens at His feet. 
Blessed privilege we have, dear friends, to go to Him 
with all our burdens and our sorrows. Surely He hath 
borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. Think of 
Christ as a burden-bearer! What would this world do 
without Him? How dark the grave would be without 
Him! 

I remember making a remark a few years ago that 
there was no burden we had but that Christ would carry 
it for us if we would let Him. At the close of the meet- 
ing a lady pushed her way through the crowd and came 
up to me and said, " Mr. Moody, if you had the burden 
I have got you could not have said what you did to-day." 
" Perhaps not," I said, "but have you got a burden too 
great for Christ to carry? " " Well," she said, " I would 
not say it was too great for Christ to carry." But she 
said, " I can't leave it with Him." "Well, it is your 
fault, because He tells you to do it. He commands you 
to cast your care upon Him, for He careth for you, for 
He numbers the very hairs of your head, and a sparrow 
cannot fall to the ground without His knowledge. Do 
you think He will not help you in the time of trouble, 
that He will not bear your burden and carry your sorrow 
if you will let Him?" "Well," she said, "Just hear 
me, sir. I am the mother of one child, and that child is 
a wanderer. For years I have not heard from him. 
Look at these hairs; they are untimely gray. I will soon 
go down to my grave. It is crushing me down to the 
grave." "Well," I said, " my good woman, don't you 
know that Jesus Christ knows where your boy is, and 
don't you know that you can reach him this very hour by 



34 MOODY S SERMONS. 

the way of the throne — that the spirit of God will search 
him out, and that boy may be convicted and converted 
and brought home in answer to prayer? Go tell it out to 
Christ. Go pour out your heart to Him. Tell Him ail 
your sorrows. " I told that lady of a case in Indiana. 
A boy went from the southern part of Indiana to Chi- 
cago. He was a moral young man; and a great many 
parents are satisfied if their children are moral; but I tell 
you the temptations of city life are too much for any 
man who has not got Christ as his keeper. He will be 
swept away in the time of temptation. This young man 
had not been in Chicago a great many months when a 
neighbor came up to Chicago on business, and he found 
that young man reeling through the streets, drunk. 
When he went back he thought he ought to tell that 
father, but he knew it would break his heart, and then 
he felt as though he could not do it. He kept it locked 
up in his heart for some time, but one day he thought if 
that boy was his, and was becoming a drunkard, he would 
want to know it. And so he took that father off to one 
side one day, and told him what he had seen in Chicago. 
It was a terrible blow for the father. He went home that 
night, and after the children had been put to bed, and 
the wife was sitting by the table at work, and he said to 
her, ' ' Wife, I have got some very sad news from Chi- 
cago to-day." The wife dropped her work and said, 
11 Pray tell me what it can be? " " Our boy was seen on 
the street of Chicago by neighbor so-and-so, drunk." 
They did not sleep that night. They spent that night 
taking that burden away to Jesus Christ. They took 
that wandering boy in the arms of their faith to the Son 
of God, pleading that their boy might be saved, and that 



WHAT IS CHRIST TO ME? 35 

he might not go down to a drunkard's grave. About day- 
break the mother said, " I don't know where, I don't 
know when, I don't know how my boy is to be saved; 
but God has given me faith to believe that my boy is to 
become a Christian." Her faith rested there. She 
carried the burden to the Son of God; and at the end of 
the week that boy came home, and the first thing he 
said as he crossed the threshold was, " Mother I have 
come home to ask you to pray for me," and it was found 
that the very night the father and mother were praying 
God to touch the heart of their boy, he had become con- 
verted. 

mothers, pray for your boys! Fathers, cry mightily 
to God for the children He has given you. 

1 wish I had time to take Him up as our shepherd; I 
would like to take Him up as our redeemer, as our sanc- 
tification, as our justification, as our all in all. I could 
not tell you in one short hour what Christ is. It will 
take all eternity to tell you what Christ is. I want to 
stand here to-day to tell you that He is the best friend 
the sinner has got. He is just the friend every man 
needs here. If you take Him to be your Savior, your 
way, your truth, your life, your shepherd, your burden- 
bearer, He will be true to you, and He will carry all 
your sins, and all your burdens, and all your sorrows. 



FAITH. 

Text. — "Bring him unto me." Mark, ix, 19. 

We find in this chapter that Christ had taken Peter. 
James and John, and had been up in the Mount of Trans- 
figuration, and the first thing that met His eye as He 
came down from that holy mount was a great multitude 
gathered around His disciples and rejoicing — the enemies 
of Christ rejoicing over the defeat of the disciples; and 
when He made inquiry to find out what had caused the 
discussion, one of the multitude spoke up and said, "I 
have brought my son to the disciples that they might cast 
out an unclean spirit, and they could not do it." They 
had not faith. 

Now, it strikes me that that is the condition of the 
church in this country at the present time. We have 
not got power to cast out these devils. I believe men are 
possessed of devils now as much as they were in the days 
of Christ. I think this rum devil is about as great a 
devil as they had in the days of Christ. And you will 
find a good many possessed of the rum devil. And then 
this infidel devil is as bad as it was in the days of Christ. 
These unbelieving devils are possessing men, and what 
we want is power to cast them out; and what we want, 
it seems to me, is to learn this lesson, "That if we have 

36 




K- 



m\ 






Raising of the Daughter of Jairus. Luke, viii, 41-56. 



FAITH. 39 

failed it is not God's fault, but it is our own fault; and 
we want to just get by these obstacles and get right to 
the Master Himself. 

Turn to Kings, and you will find that in the days of 
Elisha he saw that Shunammite woman coming, and he 
says to his servant, ' ' Go and ask her if it is well with 
the child, and well with the husband." And she said it 
was well. Elisha could not understand it. But she 
came and threw herself right at his feet, and it was re- 
vealed unto Elisha what the trouble was. The child was 
dead; but that woman had faith and believed that he 
should rise again. There is faith for you! So he said to 
his servant, " Take thy staff and go and lay it upon the 
child." And they tried to send the woman away; but 
she said, ' ' As the Lord liveth, and as thy soul liveth, I 
will not leave thee!" She had got beyond the staff and 
beyond the servant, and got right to the Master himself, 
and it was well that she did, because the old staff did not 
raise the dead child. It needed Elisha himself, and that 
woman was very wise. And what we want is to learn 
a lesson from the Shunammite woman; but if the dis- 
ciples can't cast out those devils, what we want is to lift 
our eyes higher up; to lift our eyes to the One sitting 
upon the throne, who is unchangeable, the same yester- 
day, to-day and forever. Christ has got power; and if 
the church will only have faith, we will see signs and 
wonders in this city. The Lord is wonderful to save, my 
friends; He delights to save. But there is one thing that 
He wants among His people, and that is faith. Faith can 
do most anything with Jesus Christ. When He was down 
here, faith could lead Him around anywhere, andcouldget 
Him to do almost anything. And what we want in the 



40 Moody's sermons. 

church to-day is faith to believe that the Son of God has 
power to bless. 

When these disciples failed, I can imagine they rea- 
soned something like this, ' ' Why, it is a pretty hard 
case." One of the disciples says, "I asked him how 
long he had been troubled with this deaf and dumb 
spirit, and the father said he was born so, and it is pretty 
discouraging. If he could only hear us, why then there 
would be some hope. If he could only speak and tell us 
how he feels, there would be some hope. He can't hear, 
and he can't speak. It is a pretty hopeless case." But 
see what the Master said when He came down from that 
mount. " Bring him unto me." And I tell you if the 
Master tell us to bring our friends and those whom we 
are anxious should be saved to Him, let us obey this 
command. Let us bring them in the arms of our faith 
and lay them right at His feet, But there is one thing I 
want to call your attention to. That father got the " if" 
in the wrong place. He says, " Lord, if Thou canst do ' 
anything, and the Lord just corrected him and put the 
"if" in the right place. "If Thou canst believe, all 
things are possible. " You don't want to put any ifs in if 
you are going to bring souls to Christ. Don't put in, " If 
Thou canst do " anything. The leper we read about in 
the fifth chapter of Luke got the "if" in the right 
place. He says, " Lord, if Thou wilt, Thou canst make 
me clean." That pleased the Master. He said, " I will; 
be thou clean." With a word he cleansed him. But 
this father got the "if " in the wrong place — " If Thou 
canst help us we want help. " See how quick he could 
help him when he brought him to the Master. As he 
came, the devil tripped him up on the way, as he has 



FAITH. 41 

done a great many times since. When a man sets his 
face to come to Christ, the devil trips him up — throws 
him down. But bear in mind, devils and disease and 
death are to obey the voice of the Son of God. He 
spoke, and that unclean spirit came out of him; and not 
only that, He told him to come back no more. I tell 
you, if the Lord sent him away, he will never come back. 
Some people are afraid if men are converted they won't 
hold out. But when the Lord casts out those devils, 
and gives them instructions never to come back, they 
will hold out. What the Lord does, holds through eter- 
nity itself. What man does is very short and transitory, 
but when God works He works thoroughly. He gave to 
that devil instructions never to come back again, and he 
had to obey. There was one thing that the devils had to 
do when Christ was here — and He is here now in spirit 
— and that was, they had to obey Him. 

You turn to the fifth chapter of Mark, and you will 
find there the Son of God had power over devils, over 
disease and over death. In the fifth chapter of Mark 
you will find three incurable cases. If they had them 
now-a-days, they would have them in some incurable 
hospital. There are hospitals now being erected in some 
parts of this country, and there are a good many in 
Europe, for the incurable. But there were no incurables 
when Christ was here. He was a match for every case 
they brought to Him. Here, in this fifth chapter of 
Mark, we read of a man who was possessed of devils; he 
had legions of them. No man could bind him. No man 
could tame him; for they had often bound him with 
fetters and chains, but the chains had been plucked 
asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces. They 



42 

had clothed him, but he would tear the clothes from him, 
and they could not keep a rag on his back; there he was 
— a maniac. But when Christ met him, with a word He 
cast out those unclean spirits; with a word He restored 
him back to his family. He said to him, "Go home 
and tell your friends what great things the Lord has done 
for you." And he went back and began to publish the 
great things the Lord had done for him, and all men 
marveled. I tell you, there will be some marveling in 
this city when God begins to work. That is what makes 
men marvel. What we want is to pray God Almighty 
to come and work in this city, and cast out these unclean 
spirits. And we read a little further, in the fifth chapter 
of Mark, of a woman who had an issue of blood for 
twelve years. She had suffered many things of many 
physicians; grew worse all the while. When men are 
running to earthly physicians they grow worse all the time. 
When men are trying to patch up their old Adam-nature, 
trying to make themselves better, they are growing 
worse all the time. When men are trying to save them- 
selves and work out their own salvation without the help 
of God, trying to work out this great question, they are 
all the time making themselves worse. Why, this wom- 
an tried many physicians. Perhaps she had been down 
to Damascus and tried the leading physicians there, or 
had been up to Jerusalem and tried the leading physi- 
cians there, and if they had physicians of the old school 
and new school, she tried both schools, but kept getting 
worse. If they had patent medicines she would be try- 
ing every kind of patent medicine; but they did not help 
her, all the while growing worse. But one day Jesus 
happened to be coming in that part of the country. I 



FAITH. 43 

can see her getting down her garments, and the children 
trying to -persuade her not to go. "Mother, we hope 
you are not going to run after that physician. You have 
tried so many, and we hope you are not going to waste 
your strength by running after that physician." I can 
see her put on her garments. I don't know what they 
wore in those days, but if she had a shawl, it was an old 
shawl. The doctors had got all her money in the twelve 
years. She got down her old faded bonnet and away she 
went. She is in the crowd, elbowing her way, pushing 
her way toward the great prophet. When she gets near 
enough to touch Him, able-bodied men push her back, 
saying to her, " Don't you know there are other people 
here that want to get near Him as well as yourself." She 
did not care what they said. She wished that she might 
get near enough to touch Him. There was faith for you. 
She had faith to believe that if she could just touch the 
hem of His garment, she would be made whole. I tell 
you when faith was near the Son of God He knew all 
about it. And again she elbows her way through that 
crowd, and pushes her way up to Him, and, when near 
enough, at last she reaches out her thin, pale arm — 
nothing but skin and bone. You can see that hand, that 
bony finger; and at last she just touches the hem of His 
garment, and lo! in a minute, she is made well. Some 
one has said there was more medicine in His garments 
than in all the apothecary shops in Palestine. The mo- 
ment she touched His garments she was healed. That 
is faith. Some people say, " O, well, some men have 
become so debased, so debauched, are such drunkards, 
that it has become a disease with them." Suppose it has 
become a disease, God is able to heal. That woman 



44 MOODY S SERMONS. 

had a disease for twelve years. But a touch, and the 
work was done; and He turned and said, " Who touched 
me?" And they said, " That is a queer question." Why, 
look at the crowd that has been thronging for hours. 
Look at the hands that touched Him. They could not 
tell the difference between the touch of the crowd and 
the touch of faith. Some of the people came and looked 
all around, just as some people have come here; they will 
be casting around and they will go out as empty as they 
came in. But there may be some one that is seeking a 
blessing, and he will say, " O, that I may touch Him 
to-night, that I may get the power; that I may be healed." 

And I tell you if faith is here, He will be here. That 
was what He wanted to bring out before those people. 
He knew that faith had touched Him, and virtue had 
gone forth. He knew who the woman was, but He 
wanted to get her confession. And she fell at His feet 
and told it all to Him; she had tried other physicians, 
but the moment she tried the true physician she was 
healed. 

Then that other case in the third chapter of Mark. 
That was more hopeless than the other two, because the 
child was dead. There was no use sending for any phy- 
sician; the child was too far gone. But the moment 
Christ got in that chamber and met death, face to face, 
death fled before Him. He had power to raise the dead. 

And so there are some people here in this city who 
will say, " There is no use talking to that person. He 
is dead to everything that is pure. He is dead to every- 
thing that is righteous and holy. " But, my dear friends, 
our Savior is a quickener. And what we want is faith to 
believe that our Father and Master can raise these dead 
souls if we bring them unto Him. 



FAITH. 45 

Now, if you have got a son who has wandered far 
away, and you have become discouraged, and said that 
there is no use laboring for his salvation, my dear friend, 
bear in mind it is very dishonoring to God. Instead of 
looking at these obstacles — looking at the human heart 
so hard and thinking it cannot be reached — let us lift our 
eyes to Him who sits upon the throne, and remember 
that just as He left the earth, He told us that all power 
is given to Him in heaven and on earth; and if He has 
got such mighty power, can't He save? Is there a man 
so far gone in all this city that Christ cannot save him? 
Is there a woman so low, and so degraded, and so 
depraved that Jesus Christ cannot save her? Away with 
the doctrine! My dear friends, He can. He can save 
unto the uttermost. Let us hear the voice of the Master 
coming from the throne to-night. " Bring him unto 
Me." " Bring her unto Me." Let us take them in the 
arms of our faith to the Son of God, and have faith to 
believe that He has power to cast out, to heal, to cleanse, 
to make whole, and to raise even the dead to life. 

Now, it seems to me, as He said that to that father, 
that we might justly apply this to parents. I will venture 
to say that half of this audience here to-night are parents. 
Fathers and mothers, let me ask you a question. Are 
you not anxious for that child that God has given you, or 
for those children? May I not speak to some father here 
to-night who has got a wayward boy? Perhaps this hour, 
while you are here in this gospel meeting, that boy is 
down yonder in some brothel, or some gambling den, or 
some drinking saloon. His feet are hastening on down 
to death and ruin. Don't you want that boy reached? 
Let us have faith to believe that God can save our chil- 



46 Moody's sermons. 

dren. I do not believe God wants our children lost. I 
believe that we can be co-workers with Him. It is a 
great privilege, and it is a great opportunity we have of 
a united effort — fathers and mothers coming together to 
bring their children to the Lord Jesus Christ. And I 
believe that if fathers and mothers, during the next thirty 
days, make up their minds, God helping them, that they 
will bring about this one result, that they will bring sal- 
vation to their family, that they will ask the Lord Jesus 
Christ to come into their homes and save every member 
of their family, God will not disappoint them. And I 
believe that if we hear His voice to-night saying, bring him 
or bring her unto Me, and obey that command, and we 
bring our children to the Lord Jesus Christ, He will bless 
them. 

I remember a few years ago hearing of a mother who 
was dying with consumption, that had seven children, 
and when the hour came for her to leave this earth, she 
asked the father to bring the children to her bedside, and 
the husband brought the children in one by one. The 
oldest one was brought in first, and the mother placed 
her hand upon its head and gave that child a mother's 
dying blessing. Then the next one was brought in, and 
she did the same, and gave it a message. At last a little 
infant was brought in, and she took her little child and 
hugged it and kissed it, and they saw that the excite- 
ment was becoming too great for her, and they took the 
little child away from her, and as they did it she looked 
up in her husband's face and says, " I charge you to 
bring all these children home with you." And so the 
captain of your salvation and mine charges us to bring 
our children home with us. The promises are not only 



FAITH. 47 

to us, but to our children; and what He wants is to have 
you and me have faith to believe that He is ready and will- 
ing to do it, and that He will honor our faith. We have 
got to work as well as have faith. We must first have 
faith. We must first have faith to believe that God will 
do it, and then we must work for their salvation; we must 
use every means in our power to bring them to a knowl- 
edge of Jesus Christ. Let us not only bring them to 
God and prayer around our family altars, and in our 
closets, and in these public meetings, but, my friends, 
let us talk with them; let us try in every way we can to 
bring them to the Son of God. 

And then let me say another thing. Let us have faith 
to believe that they can come early to Christ. I believe 
that there are many a father and mother that are skeptical 
on this point. They have got the idea that their chil- 
dren ought to grow up to manhood and womanhood be- 
fore they can be brought to a knowledge of the truth as 
it is in Christ. 

Many of them have got the idea that they must have 
the seed of death sown in their hearts; that they must 
have some of these tares sown in their hearts before they 
can have the seed of the kingdom; that they have got to 
see some of the world, and they have got to be tempted 
and led, you might say, into bondage, into sin, before 
they can be saved. I believe that is one of the delusions 
of the evil one. I believe it is the privilege of every 
father and mother to bring their children to Christ so 
early that they cannot tell when they came. It is a 
privilege for us to take them in the earlier days of child- 
hood, when they can just lisp the name of papa and 
mamma, and teach them to lisp the name of Jesus Christ, 



48 Moody's sermons. 

and teach them in their early childhood to love Him and 
to serve Him. 

I remember, many years ago, I was urging this in the 
state of Michigan; an old man jumped up at the close of 
the meeting and said, " I want to indorse all that young 
man has said. Sixteen years ago I was in a heathen 
country. My wife died and left me with three little chil- 
dren. The first sabbath after her death, my oldest little 
girl — Nellie, ten years old — came to me and says, 
4 Papa, may I take the children into the bed-room and 
pray for them as mother used to do on the sabbath? ' ' 
Let me say to you, my friends, there is the power of 
example. If I should be called away and leave my chil- 
dren in this cold, unfriendly world at an early age, I 
would rather have them come to my grave and be able to 
say I was more anxious for their eternal welfare than for 
their earthly prosperity. Well, this old man said, when 
the children came out from the chamber where they had 
been praying, he noticed that they had all been weeping, 
and he called to his little girl and said, ' ' Nellie, what 
have you been weeping about? " " Why," she says " we 
could not help but weep. I made the prayer that mother 
taught me to make, and [naming her little brother] 
made the prayer mother taught him; but little Susie 
didn't use to pray. Mother thought she was too little to 
pray, and when we prayed, little Susie made a prayer 
and we could not help but weep." " What did she say? " 
"She put her little hands together and says, ' O God, 
you have come and taken away my dear mamma. I 
have no mamma to pray for me. Won't you please 
make me just as good as my mamma was, for Jesus' sake? 
Amen.'" That child, before she was four years old, gave 



FAITH. 49 

evidence of being a child of God. Fathers, do you sup- 
pose your children can come that early? 

Mothers, have you got faith to believe that you can 
bring your children that early to the Son of God? He 
will say to-night, as He did when on earth, ''Suffer 
little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not, for 
of such is the kingdom of heaven." 'And in this month, 
I hope will be a harvest time, let us bring our children 
to the Son of God. Let us labor for their salvation. 
Father, mother, hear the voice of the Son of God to- 
night, saying, " Bring them unto Me." He will not cast 
them out. He will bless them. 

And then let me say to you, sabbath-school teachers, 
this is a grand time for you to work. I never have 
known a Sunday-school teacher, in these special efforts 
which we have made in cities, who has laid herself or 
himself out to bring his class to Christ — I have scarcely 
ever known it to fail. This is a grand opportunity now 
for you to go and bring the children in your classes to 
Him. Perhaps you will say they are too young to be 
converted. They are wild, it may be. They are thought- 
less. They are careless. They are indifferent. O, let 
us not be looking at them, but let us look above and re- 
member that the power is yonder, and Christ is the 
power. You cannot tell what may be the result of bring- 
ing your Sunday-school class to the Lord Jesus Christ. 

I remember being in a place a few years ago, and I 
was the guest of a friend, and in his house there was a 
young lady that had a Sunday-school class in the after- 
noon, and I happened to have a meeting the first after- 
noon I was there, and I noticed that teacher in my meet- 
ing, and when I got home I said, ' ' How was it you were 



50 MOODY S SERMONS. 

out at the meeting this afternoon? I thought you had a 
Sunday-school class. " "Well, so I have, Mr. Moody, 
but," she says, "I only have five little boys, and as I 
thought it would not do much harm I left them to-day." 
Whenever you hear a Sunday-school teacher talking that 
way, you may believe that she does not understand the 
worth of a soul. Five little boys! Why, dear teacher, 
do you not know that in that class there may be a 
Luther? In that little tow-headed German boy there 
may slumber a reformation. There may come power 
upon him that he may go out and be a blessing to the 
world. You can't tell when you call a little boy to Christ 
what he may become. He may be a Whitefield, or a 
Wesley, or a Knox, or a Bunyan. Eternity alone can 
tell what is to be done when we bring a soul to Christ. 

Now, sabbath-school teachers, this is a golden oppor- 
tunity. Let us work together; let us pray together, and 
not rest at night until we see those we are responsible for 
brought to Christ. Let us labor to bring them to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, and if we labor faithfully, He will not 
disappoint us. 

I remember the inspiration that I got for this work the 
very first soul that I led to Christ. I can remember what 
a new life was awakened in me, and I trust I have not 
been the same man from that day to this, and 
I hope there be a great many workers in this city 
that will be roused to go out and work for souls. It is 
the highest privilege on earth. There is nothing like it 
— to be a worker with God; to be instrumental in bring- 
ing souls to Christ. 

I want to tell you just a little incident that roused me. 
I was a nominal Christian for a number of years; but, my 



FAITH. 5 1 

friends, I would rather die than go back to that kind of 
life; having a name to live, and no power, no life, and 
not able to say there is one who has been led to Christ 
by my influence, to be a professed disciple of Jesus 
Christ, and not be able to say there is one solitary soul 
that has been led to Christ by my influence. How does 
that professed Christian live on year after year, when he 
has such a glorious privilege to work for Christ and win 
souls for Him? And I believe to-day what we want is to 
get the laity aroused. What we want is to get the pulpit 
and the pew united, until Christianity becomes a living 
power on the face of the earth. I do not fear your in- 
fidelity. I do not fear your false isms cropping up on the 
earth half so much as I do these cold formalisms coming 
into the church of God. Let me tell you what awakened 
me. I had a large Sunday-school in Chicago, and I was 
satisfied with having large numbers interested. We were 
sowing seed, and I said it was going to spring up some- 
time, but I did not know when. There are a great many 
people, who are all the time sowing seed. What would 
you say of a farmer that was always sowing seed and 
never harvested? You want to sow with one hand and 
reap with the other, and if we look for an immediate 
harvest we shall have it. 

I was just in that condition. I was sowing, and sow- 
ing. I had a hall over a meat market, and over in a 
corner I had a class of wild, thoughtless, frivolous young 
misses. I had more trouble with that class than with all 
the other classes of the school; but I had, I thought, 
the best teacher in the school in that class. He was 
there every Sunday, and held their attention pretty well. 
But one Sunday he was absent, and before I could get 



52 MOODY S SERMONS. 

around to his house to find out what was the matter, he 
came down to my store. He was pale. He took a seat 
upon a box, and he said, " I have been bleeding again at 
my lungs, and have got to give up business. The doctor 
tells me I can't live much longer, and I have closed up 
my business, and I am going home to my mother, in the 
east to die." Then he began to weep. " Well," I says 
to him, "you are not afraid to die?" " No," he says; 
"Mr. Moody, that does not trouble me, but my Sunday- 
school class. I will meet them on the day of judgment; 
not one of them is converted. If I had been faithful, 
some of them might have been saved; but now I am 
called away from them. I never shall meet them again 
in this world. What will I say when I meet the judge?" 
The poor man's heart was broken. I said, " Suppose 
we go and see them." He said when he had strength he 
did not go, and now he had lost his strength and could 
not go. I said, " I will take you in a carriage." I took 
that man out in a carriage; we went from house to house. 
He was so weak he reeled on the sidewalk. When he 
got in the house, he would say to Margaret, to Mary or 
to Jane, calling them by their first name, " I have come 
to talk to you about coming to Christ "; and then, would 
plead with them as a dying man. When his strength 
gave way I took him home, and the next day we started 
out again, and at the end of ten days the last one was 
converted. We had a meeting at his house, and it was 
at that meeting that I caught a new inspiration. It was 
at that meeting that God gave me to see the worth of a 
soul. I do not know that I ever spent such a night 
before that time. The whole class was gathered into the 
fold. That teacher got down on his knees and prayed 



FAITH. 53 

that the Lord might give His angels charge over them. 
When we got through, one of the young converts began 
to pray, and another and another prayed for their teacher; 
that they might be kept faithful, and that the Lord 
might be with him in his sickness; and we bid him good- 
by, after singing, ' '■ Blest be the tie that binds our hearts 
in Christian love." It was a joyful meeting with all its 
sadness. The next night he was to leave our city about 
sundown. I went to the station to bid him good-by, 
and, without speaking to anybody about it or expecting 
it, I found at the depot before the train started the whole 
class was there. Standing on the platform, the class 
gathered around him. It was the most beautiful sight 
ever I saw. They sang, ' ' We meet to part again, but 
when we meet on Canaan's shore there will be no part- 
ing." And as the train started, with his pale finger, he 
pointed to heaven, until the wheels rolled him out of the 
city; but, my friends, his influence lives in Chicago to- 
day. Let us work and bring our children to Christ, and 
our influence will be felt hundreds of years hence. What 
we do for God is forever. It is eternal and everlasting. 
So let us be up and about our Master's work. Let us 
hunt up and bring some soul to Christ. Now, my friends, 
do you believe that you can be instrumental, in God's 
hands, in leading one soul to Christ during the next thirty 
days? I do not believe there is a man or woman in this 
house, but may be instrumental in leading some one soul 
to Christ if he tries. Hear the voice of the Master to- 
night, " Bring him unto Me." 



REPENTANCE. 



" Commandeth all men everywhere to repent." — Acts, xvii, 30. 

You will find my text to-night in the seventeenth 
chapter of Acts, a part of the thirtieth verse, "Com- 
mandeth all men everywhere to repent." That must take 
all in. It is another command. Then in the next verse 
He tells us why, " Because He hath appointed a day in 
the which He will judge the world in righteousness by 
that man whom He hath ordained; whereof He hath 
given assurance unto all men, in that He hath raised 
him from the dead." 

The day is appointed. We do not know anything 
about the calendar of heaven. God has kept that appoint- 
ment in His own mind. We do not know just the day, 
but the day is appointed, the time is fixed, and God is 
going to judge this world. So He sends out a proclama- 
tion and commands all men now everywhere tG repent. 
And if you do not want to be brought into judgment and 
be judged, you had better repent; turn to God, and let 
Jesus Christ be judged for you, and escape the judg- 
ment. It is a great thing to get rid of the judgment. 
"There is no condemnation to him that is in Christ 
Jesus." That is, there is no judgment. Judgment is 
already past to the believer — to the man that has repented 
of his sins and confessed them, and turned away from 

54 




Jonah Calling Neneveh to Repentance. Jonah, 



REPENTANCE. 57 

them, and God has put them away. They never again 
shall be mentioned. We read in Ezekiel that not one of 
our sins has been mentioned; that they have been for- 
given; therefore God calls upon all men everywhere now 
— not some future time, but now, right here to-night — to 
repent. 

As we look at the beginning of the gospel of this dis- 
pensation, you will find that John the Baptist, the fore- 
runner of Christ, that his voice just rung through the 
wilderness of Judea, and that he had but one text; you 
might say his text was one word, " Repent, repent, 
repent." That was his cry. He kept it up until he met 
Christ at the Jordan, and then he changed the text, and 
he had but one text after that, "Behold the Lamb of 
God which taketh away the sin of the world." 

He first called to repentance, but when Jesus Christ 
commenced His ministry, he took up that wilderness cry 
and echoed it again over the plains of Palestine — 
'* Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." When 
He sent out the twelve, He told them to go into every 
town and make the proclamation that the kingdom 
of God was coming nigh, and men must repent. If 
they wanted to get in His kingdom, they must enter 
through that door of repentance. When He sent out the 
seventy, two by two, He gave them instructions that they 
should just say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is 
at hand." 

Then we find, after Christ had ascended again into 
glory, Peter took up that cry on the day of Pentecost, 
and as he preached through Jerusalem to sinners that 
they must repent, the Holy Ghost came down and testi- 
fied to what Peter was saying. 



58 Moody's sermons. 

Now, we find in this text Paul is here in Athens rais- 
ing that wilderness cry again, and commands men now 
and everywhere to repent. There is no such thing as a 
man getting to heaven until he repents. You may preach 
Christ and offer Christ, but man has got to turn away 
from sin first, as we tried to show you last night. ' ' Let 
the wicked forsake his way, the unrighteous man his 
thoughts, and turn unto the Lord." Repentance is turn- 
ing. 

Before I commence to preach about repentance, 1 
want to tell you what it is not. The fact is, I believe 
this great truth, that has been talked so much in the 
church that every school-boy ought to be acquainted with 
it, is the very thing we are in darkness about. 

It seems to me as if Satan has thrown dust in the eyes 
of the people; that the god of this world has blinded'us 
to- these things. I find a great many people have a false 
idea of what repentance is. 

Now, repentance is not fear. Mark that? I may stand 
here to-night, and I may, perhaps, picture to you the 
judgment, and I might alarm some people here, and you 
may get scared, and it would look as if it was true work, 
but it would pass away like a morning cloud. I might 
hold a revolver to your head and say, " Repent, or I will 
blow your brains out, " and you would say, * ' I will repent^ 
I will repent," but when the revolver was taken away you 
would forget all about it. That is taking place all the 
while. Some people think they have got to be wrought 
up. Something has to be said to alarm them. You go 
out to sea, or out here on Lake Erie, and let a storm 
come up; fifteen minutes before the storm the sailors, 
and perhaps the captain, are cursing and blaspheming. 



REPENTANCE. 59 

A storm comes up, and they go to praying. You would 
think they were saints. The storm passes away, and 
they are out of danger, and they are swearing again. That 
is fear.. That is not repentance. It seemed as if the king 
of Egypt was really coming to the Lord, to hear him 
talk when he heard the thunderings and judgments of 
God upon him. The king was alarmed. It looked as if 
he was coming to the Lord, but he was only scared. 
The moment those judgments were off, he forgot all 
about it. That was not repentance at all. A man may 
be scared and not repent. A man may be alarmed and 
not repent. Many men, when death comes and takes a 
look at them, begin to be alarmed. They get well and 
forget all about it. 

jlepentance |s_ njoi feeling Mark that! There are 
hundreds and thousands of people in this city who just 
have their arms folded, and they are waiting for some 
queer kind of feeling. They think repentance is a certain 
kind of feeling; that they have to feel very bad, very 
sorrowful — got to weep a good deal, and then they will 
be in a condition to come to God. Repentance is not 
feeling. A man may feel very bad and not really repent. 
I venture to say if you go down to Columbus to the state 
penitentiary you cannot find a man in there that does not 
feel sorry he got caught, awful sorry; shed a great many 
tears in court on his trial. The trouble is they are sorry 
they got caught. That is all. They feel very bad they 
got caught. But there is no true repentance; no turning 
to God. Feeling is not repentance. Last winter, I 
preached seven months to the convicts in the Maryland 
penitentiary. I found men just the same under lock and 
key that they are out. There were a great many there 



60 Moody's sermons. 

in that prison who had passed through their trial, been 
sentenced ten years or five years to the penitentiary, that 
had no signs of repentance there at all. They were very 
sorry they got caught. They would like to get out very 
well, and perhaps they would do the same thing right 
over when they got out. That is not repentance at all. 

A man may be dishonest in some business transaction, 
and bring ruin upon himself and his family; he may weep 
bitter tears for weeks and for months, and yet not repent. 
But he is very sorry he got caught. These defaulters are 
all sorry they got caught. I do not know how many of 
them truly repent. If they truly repent, God forgives 
them whether man does or not. They may shed a great 
many tears and not repent. 

I tell you we have got to wake up to the fact that re- 
pentance is not feeling. It is something higher, deeper, 
broader than just mere sentiment or feeling. A man 
may weep, and brush away the tears and forget all 
about it. 

And then repentance is not remorse. Judas had re- 
morse. He did not repent towards God. He was filled 
with remorse and despair, and went out and hung him- 
self. That was not repentance. There is a difference 
between remorse and repentance. 

Then repentance is not penance. Some people think 
they have got to put that in the place of repentance. 
They think if they just do penance they are all right. 
Suppose I go down to Lake Erie and stand all night up 
to my neck in the water till daylight, is that repentance? 
Will I be more acceptable to God to-morrow be- 
cause I have been down there in the lake all night and 
stood in the water up to my neck? That is not repentance. 



REPENTANCE. 6l 

Conviction is not repentance. A man may be con- 
victed that he is wrong and not repent. I may remain 
for years under conviction and not repent. 

Repentance is not praying. A great many people 
think they are going to settle this question by going off 
to pray, and asking God to forgive them, and they go 
right on living the same way they have been living. 

Repentance is not forming a few good resolutions. It 
is not resolving that we will be better and do better in 
the future and just go right on. 

Repentance is not breaking off from some sin. That 
is not repentance. Suppose a vessel has sprung aleak. 
There are three holes in it. You stop up two of them 
and leave one of them open. Down goes the vessel. 
That is enough to sink it. And so some men say, ' ' Well, 
I will break off part of my sins." Suppose you are guilty 
of a hundred and break off ninety-nine of them, and 
leave one, and go on committing that one. That one is 
enough, my friends. 

If God drove Adam out of Eden on account of one sin, 
do you think He will let you into the paradise above 
with one sin upon you? If God would not let Adam stay 
in Eden — that earthly paradise — with one sin upon him, 
do you think He is going to allow sinners into that 
heavenly paradise above with one sin upon them? So it 
is not just breaking off part of our sins and leaving part 
of them, but it is leaving the whole of them. 

Perhaps you say, " Then what is repentance?" If it 
is not fear, if it is not feeling, if it is not prayer, and if it 
is not forming a few good resolutions and doing penance, 
what is it? 

Listen, my friends. Repentance is turning right about; 



62 Moody's sermons. 

in other words, as a soldier would call it, " Right about 
face." As some one has said, man is born with his back 
towards God. When he truly repents, he turns right 
around and faces God. Repentance is a change of mind. 
Repentance is an afterthought. 

Now, I might feel sorry that I had done a thing, and 
go right on and do it over again. You see, repentance is 
deeper than feeling. It is action. It is turning right 
about. And God commands all men everywhere to 
turn. 

Let me read to you here a verse or two from the twenty- 
first chapter of the gospel according to Matthew, ' ' What 
think ye?" These are the words of the Lord Jesus 
Christ. ''What think ye?" A certain man had two 
sons; and he said to them, "Go work in my vineyard." 
One of them said, " I will not go." The other said, " I 
will go sir," and he went not. But the man that said he 
would not go repented and changed his mind — an after- 
thought, you see — and turned and went and did it. 
1 ' Now, " says Christ, ' ' which of the two sons did his 
father's will?" "Well, the man that repented." And 
Christ just held that right up to the people. That is 
what the Lord wants, to have a man turn right about, 
not try to justify himself in his sin, but acknowledge his 
sin, confess his sin, and turn from it; and the moment a 
man is willing to do that, that moment God is ready and 
willing to receive him. 

Now, I think, I can use an illustration that you can 
get hold of. Suppose I want to go to Chicago to-night. 
I go down to the depot. I do not know much about the 
trains in this city. I see a man there whom I take to 
be connected with the depot, and I ask him, "Is this 



REPENTANCE. 63 

train going right to Chicago?" "Yes, sir." I take 
my bag and jump right aboard that train. I get com- 
fortably seated, and my friend, Mr. Doan, comes down 
and he says, ' ' Mr. Moody, where are you going? " And 
I say, "Going to Chicago." "Well, you are on the 
wrong train. That train is going off to New York." "I 
think you are wrong, Mr. Doan; I just asked a man who 
is a railroad man, and he told me this train was going to 
Chicago." " Well, sir, I tell you you are wrong. That 
train is not going to Chicago at all; it is going to take 
you right in an opposite direction. That train is goiug 
off to New York, and if you want to go to Chicago, you 
must get out of that train and get aboard another." I 
did not believe him at first. "Well," he says, "but I 
have been here in this city for twenty-five years. I 
know all about these trains. I go to Chicago and New 
York a dozen times a year. I am constantly taking these 
trains. I am having friends nearly every week that take 
these trains, and I come down here, and I tell you that 
I am right, and you are wrong, sir. You are on the 
wrong train." At last Mr. Doan convinces me that I am 
on the wrong train. That is conviction. But, if I do 
not change trains, I will go to New York in spite of my 
conviction. That is not repentance. I will tell you 
what is repentance. Grabbing my bag and running 
and getting on the other train. That is repentance. 

Now, you are on the wrong train, my friends, and 
what you want is to change trains to-night. You are on 
the wrong side of this question. You are for the god 
of this world, and the world claims your influence, God 
commands all men now everywhere to repent. Change 
trains! Make haste! There is no time for delay! It 



64 Moody's sermons. 

is a call that comes from the throne of God for every 
man, woman, and child in this audience. Repent! If 
you die without repentance, whose fault is it? God has 
called you; God has commanded you, and if you will not 
obey that command, if you will not repent, and you 
die in your sins, no one is to blame but yourself. Mark 
that! No one is to blame but yourself, for God has com- 
manded you. 

Now, the question is, what will you do with this com- 
mand? Will you repent? Will you this very night, and 
this very hour, change trains? 

I will give you another illustration. There is going to 
be an election in this state to-morrow. Suppose you be- 
long to a party up till to-night, and you thought you 
were right; but to-night you become convinced that the 
party you are in is wrong. You become thoroughly con- 
vinced that if the party succeeds, it is ruin to your state 
government. You are a patriotic man, and you love the 
government; 

Now, some men say, " Can a man repent all at once?" 
I say he can. A man may come in here to-night a 
strong democrat, or he may come in here a strong re- 
publican, and he may change inside of twenty-four hours. 
You know that, don't you? If you belonged to a party, and 
you were thoroughly convinced to-night that you were in 
the wrong party, do you tell me you could not change to- 
night and join the other party and go out to the polls 
and go to work to-morrow and be on the other side of 
the question? You can do it if you will. 

Now, my friends, we will not bring up this question of 
parties. I have nothing to do with that; I only use it as 
an illustration. There is one thing I do know; you are 



REPENTANCE. 65 

on the wrong side of this question. If you are away 
from God, and if you are righting against the God of 
heaven, you had better change trains at once, hadn't 
you? Do it to-night. Make up your mind to-night that 
you will cast your lot with God's people; that you will 
just change trains. 

Look at that train the other night on the Michigan 
Central road near Jackson. Do you tell me a man can- 
not repent all at once? Do you tell me that the engi- 
neer of that train could not have whistled down brakes 
and turned that train back if he had three minutes? 
He could if he had time. He didn't have enough 
time. Look at that steamer on the ocean. It is bearing 
down upon an iceberg. It is going at the rate of twelve 
knots an hour in a fog; they cannot see a rod ahead. All 
at once they reverse the steam. In a minute more they 
would have gone on the iceberg, and all on that vessel 
would have gone down. There was a minute when they 
could have reversed the steam, and they just seized the 
opportunity and saved all on board. 

And so there is a moment, my friends, that you can 
repent and turn to God, and there is such a thing as 
being a minute too late. Look at that White Star line 
steamer when five hundred were lost off the coast of 
Newfoundland. There was a minute that they just 
crossed the line, as it were. It was too late. 

So you may neglect your soul's salvation, and you may 
neglect to repent one day too long, and it will be too late. 
God commands you to do it now. He says, ' ' Except a 
man repent, he cannot see the kingdom of God." " Ex- 
cept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish." "Except 
ye repent." We have got to enter through the door of 



66 Moody's sermons. 

repentance into the kingdom of God. There is no other 
way. The highest and the lowest, the richest and the 
poorest, have all got to go in in the same way — on their 
hands and knees. 

I had a friend during the Chicago fire who got into one 
of those lanes there, and he became so stifled with smoke 
that he lay down to die. But as he lay on the ground he 
got beneath the smoke and crawled out on his hands and 
knees. And I tell you when a man gets on his knees and 
says, " God be merciful to me a sinner," God will for- 
give him and bless him. And so, if there is a person to- 
night in this house that wants to be saved just now while 
I am talking, say, " God helping me, this night I turn 
my face toward heaven"; and if needs be God will send 
legions of angels to help you fight your way up to heaven. 

Some men say they are afraid they will not hold out. 
But God says, " My grace is sufficient for thee." "As 
thy faith, soshallthystrength.be." God is not a hard 
master. "My yoke is easy, and my burden is light." 
When men make deep and thorough work, and are will- 
ing to forsake all sin and turn to God with all their 
hearts, God helps them; then there is no trouble. God 
is not a hard master. 

Now, it is left for you, as I said last night. You can 
turn if you will. The will comes in again. I read some 
time ago an account of a wealthy man who had an 
only son, who was a wild, reckless boy; but, although he 
was a wild, reckless boy, his father loved him. When 
the father was dying, he had his will made out, and he 
willed that boy all his property on one condition, and that 
was that the boy should repent of his sins. If the boy 
turned away from his evil associates and his past life, and 



REPENTANCE. 6/ 

became a sober and an upright man, he should have all 
his estate. All he had got to do was to enter into it. 
The father put it in the hands of trustees on these con- 
ditions, and all that boy had to do was to turn from his 
past life, and his evil associates, and enter into it. He 
loved his sins so he would not do it, and he died in his 
sins. I do not know as I could have a better illustration 
than that. We have got an inheritance, incorruptible, 
kept in reserve for us, and the moment a man is willing 
to turn from his sins he can enter into that inheritance. 
God keeps it in store for all that want it. But do not 
think for a moment that you are going to enter into that 
inheritance, into those mansions Christ has gone to pre- 
pare, with sin upon you. It is utterly out of the question. 
In your sins it is impossible for you to enter into that in- 
heritance. ''Except ye repent ye shall all likewise 
perish." We cannot get into the kingdom of God with- 
out repentance, without turning from sin, without laying 
hold of His righteousness and giving up our own. 

So the question comes for us to settle, and it is a ques- 
tion we can settle if we will. We need not wait for this 
kind of feeling or that kind. It is to obey. Do you 
think God would command us to do something we could 
not do, and then punish us eternally for not doing it? 
Do you think God would command all men now every- 
where to repent, and not give them power to do it? Do 
you believe it? Away with such a doctrine as that! He 
would be an unjust God if He commanded me to do 
something I could not do, and then punished me for not 
doing it. 

Suppose I should command my boy to leap a mile at 
one leap, and if he did not do it that I would flog him, 



68 Moody's sermons. 

and then because he didn't do it I flogged him, what 
would you people in this city say? You would not allow 
me to preach. You would say I was an unjust man. 
There is one thing we must do as we preach about the 
love of God and mercy of God; we have also to stand up 
for His justice. He is a God of justice. God is not an 
unjust God. He does not command us to do anything 
we cannot do, and then punish us for not doing it. With 
the command comes the power to obey. He said to the 
man with the withered hand, " Stretch out thine hand.'' 
The man might have said, "Well, Lord, I have been 
trying to stretch out that hand for thirty years, but I 
could not do it." But with the command came the 
power. He said, "Stretch out thine hand," and out 
came the old withered arm, and was made whole before 
it got out straight from his body; and so men are blessed 
in the very act of obedience. Not for just feeling or 
sentiment. What God wants is to have us obey. What 
is it to obey? It is to repent and bring forth fruit meet 
for repentance. What does that mean? If you cheat a 
man out of five dollars, don't keep that five dollars. 
Give it back. If you are going to repent and turn to 
God, out with it! It don't belong to you. If some 
young man cheats his washerwoman by not paying his 
wash-bill, or goes off without paying his boarding mis- 
tress, don't think you can repent and turn to God with- 
out paying up every dollar, and bringing forth fruit meet 
for repentance. 

In John Wesley's day, there was a hard case that came 
in among the Wesleys. He was one of the wildest men 
in Wales. He had been a drinking man for years. He 
used to take great pleasure in defrauding men. He 



REPENTANCE. 69 

would drink and not pay for his drinks. He would gam- 
ble, and not pay what he had lost. He owed debts to 
nearly everybody. But he was converted, and soon after 
he was converted he had a little legacy left him; and he 
bought a horse and saddle, and he started, and went from 
town to town and hunted up his old creditors and paid 
them dollar for dollar. Then he would preach in those 
towns, and tell them what great things God had done 
for him. But he hadn't enough money to go around, and 
he sold the horse and saddle, and he paid up the very 
last dime. It is to pay the last dime — that is repentance. 
We want a revival of righteousness here in the west. 
If we want anything we want right living. We want a 
revival of honesty. When the Bible says, " Bring forth 
fruit meet for repentance," it means to make restitution. 
If you ruin a man, do what you can to help that poor 
fellow. If you have helped to pull any down, do all you 
can to help him up. If it takes the last dollar you have 
got, you must pay it, where you have taken from men 
dishonestly. 

When Mr. Sankey and I were in a town or city some 
time ago a man came to the inquiry-room, and great 
drops of perspiration stood upon his brow. He was 
greatly excited and says, "Sir, I don't want to talk with 
you before these people. Can't we get off alone?" I 
took him off alone, and he says, " The trouble with me 
is I am a defaulter." " Well," I said, "can you make 
restitution?" "No, sir; not for the whole amount." 
" How much is it? " " Fifteen hundred dollars." " How 
much can you pay back?" " About nine hundred dol- 
lars. But," says he, "if I pay that back, I will not have 
anything to support my wife and children." I says, 



JO MOODY S SERMONS. 

"Well, it don't belong to you, anyhow. You don't 
want it. No man can prosper with stolen money." 
Says he, "I want your advice; I have a chance to go 
into business, and if I do not give back that money and 
go into business I think I can soon make up the $1,500 
and pay it back." I said, " No, that is the devil's work. 
Don't take that stolen money and go into business. You 
will not prosper. God will turn your way upside down. 
He will hedge it up. ' He will turn the way of the 
wicked upside down.' What you want is to go to the 
root of the matter. Do right, and God will bless you; 
but you can't ask God's blessing with stolen money." I 
believe that is the reason so many do not flourish; they 
can't ask God's blessing upon their business on account 
of some dishonest act; they have lied in selling goods or 
something else. Says he, "I will disgrace my wife and 
children if I come out and confess." I said, " Not nec- 
essarily. You can do it through a third party. Not 
only that, but I think those men you defrauded would 
forgive you if they saw true signs of repentance." He 
said the terms were too hard. I said when he went off, 
" The spirit of God has hold of you. You will not sleep 
any. You will not have rest until you pay back that 
money. It will not only burn in your pocket, but burn 
in your soul." He went off, and the next day he came 
back again, and he says, "Is there no other way? " Says 
I, " There is no other way. You don't want any other 
way. The right way is always the best way. " Still he 
wanted to take some other way. Says I, " Do right, 
and let the consequences be what they will." He says, 
'• I am afraid if I go back to those men they will just put 
me in prison." I says, " You had better go into prison 



REPENTANCE. J\ 

with a clear conscience than be out with a guilty con- 
science. You won't have any peace with a guilty con- 
science. I have never heard of a man being put in 
prison that wanted to do right. Now, let me get those 
two men together and talk with them — see how they 
feel." He slunk from that; he said he could not do it. 
I said, "You can if you will." Finally he consented, 
and we sent for the two men and got them in a room 
alone. He brought to me a great, long envelope, with 
$980.40, took the last penny out of his wife's pocket- 
book. " It is all there, is it?" says I. "Every cent; it 
is all there." Those two men were sitting there in the 
room, and I took out the money and laid it down and 
told them the story, and great tears trickled down their 
cheeks. They said they would like to forgive him, and I 
went down and brought him up. It was one of the 
sweetest sights of my life. Those two men got down 
and prayed with that man. The question was settled. 
Then friends gathered around him and helped him. He 
is now a successful business man. God forgave him, and 
his employers forgave him. He brought forth fruit meet 
for repentance. 

I believe the reason we do not have better work in this 
country is because there is so much sham. We do not 
go down to the bottom of things. O, may God give us a 
revival of honesty, downright, upright honesty! That is 
what we want — right living! If it costs the right eye, 
out with it! That is what repentance means. It is not 
just mere sentiment, going to meeting and singing and 
praying and having a good time, not squaring our life 
according to Scripture. God is going to draw the plum- 
met line by-and-by, and He will have it right. We may 
deceive our friends and deceive one another, but let us 



72 Moody's sermons. 

keep in mind we cannot deceive God. If we attempt to 
cover up some sin, some dishonest act, and come to God 
with our prayers, He will not accept them. They will 
not go higher than our heads. 

Some people say they cannot get an answer to their 
prayers. If they would get down to the bottom of things, 
they would find out the reason. They would find that 
there was something not correct in their lives. 

They have not made the work deep and thorough. Let 
us pray for one thing in this city; let me ask the Christ- 
ians in this house to-night to pray for one thing, and 
s^that is that the Holy Ghost may convict us all of sin. 
Let it begin in the pulpit. If there is any one thing that 
I want more than anything else it is that God may show 
me everything in my life that is contrary to His will, and 
that He will give me grace enough to turn from it. I 
would rather do it; I would rather live so that God should 
be pleased, with me than to have the applause of the 
world. I would rather live so that God could say, 
"Well done, good and faithful servant," than just to 
accumulate a little wealth down here and have the 
applause of men for a few short years, and then know 
that I had not pleased Him. When will we wake up to 
the fact that it is more important to live to please God 
than man? 

And then how sweet our life will be, how pure our 
conscience will be, if God has forgiven everything, if we 
have brought everything to light, and turned from our 
sins, and the work has been deep and thorough! 

But one thought more, before I close, and that is, what 
produces repentance. Paul says in the second chapter 
of Romans, and the fourth verse, * ' Or despisest thou the 



REPENTANCE. 73 

riches of His goodness and forbearance and long suffer- 
ing; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee 
to repentance? " 

O, that the Lord may open our eyes to-night and show 
us how good He has been to us all these years! 

Now, the world has a false idea of God. I will ven- 
ture to say there is not an unsaved man or woman in 
this audience to-night, but has a false idea of God, and 
the reason you cannot repent is because you do not turn 
from that false idea. You have got an idea that God 
hates you — is an enemy. That is as false as any lie 
that ever came out of the pit of hell. There is not any 
truth in it. God loves the sinner. He so loved the 
world, He gave His only begotten Son to save sinners. 
Christ died for the ungodly, not the godly; for the sinner, 
not for the righteous. I want to say to every poor, lost 
soul in this audience to-night, God loves you with an 
everlasting love although you may have hated Him, and 
trampled his laws under your feet. He loves you still. 
May the love of God to-night lead you to repentance! 

There is a story in English history of King Henry and 
his rebellious son, who rose up in arms against his father. 
The king was at last obliged to take his army and pur- 
sue that rebellious son. He drove him into a walled city 
in France, and while the poor fellow was in that city the 
father was besieging it for weeks and months. But the 
son fell sick, and while he was sick he began to think of 
the goodness and kindness of that father. At last it 
broke his heart, and he sent a messenger to his father to 
tell him that he repented of his past life in rebellion, and 
asked his father to forgive him. But the old sire re- 
fused. He did not believe he was sincere. When the 



74 MOODY S SERMONS. 

messenger brought back that message that his father 
would not forgive him, he requested them to take him 
out of his bed and lay him in sack-cloth and ashes, and 
in that condition he would die. When they told his 
father of it, and he went to look at that boy and saw 
him in sack-cloth and ashes, he fell on his face and cried 
as David did, "O my son, would to God I had died for 
thee!' 

That father made a mistake. He did not know that 
boy's heart. But God never makes any mistake. O 
sinner, if you ask him to-night for pardon He will pardon 
you. If you want the love of God shed abroad in your 
heart, turn away from sin and see how quick He will 
receive you and how quick He will bless you. 




The Expulsion from the Garden. Genesis, iii, 24. 



EXCUSED. 

"I pray thee have me excused." — Luke, xiv, 19. 

These three men that we read about to-night were not 
invited to hear some dry, stupid sermon or lecture, but 
they were invited to a feast. The gospel in this parable 
is represented as a feast, and there was an invitation ex- 
tended to these three men to come to the feast. " And 
they all with one consent began to make excuse." It 
does not say that they had an excuse, but they made ex- 
cuse, manufactured one for the occasion. 

Now, excuses are as old as man. The first excuse that 
we hear of was in Eden. The first thing we hear, after 
the fall of man, was man making excuse. Instead of 
Adam confessing his guilt like a man, he began to ex- 
cuse himself — justify himself. That is what every man 
is trying to do, justify himself in his sins. Adam said, 
" It is this woman that thou gavest me." He hid behind 
her — mean, cowardly act. And it really was charging it 
back on God. " It is the woman that Thou gavest me.'' 
Blaming God for his sin. From the time that Adam fell 
from the summit of Eden to the present time, man has 
been guilty of that sin, charging it back on God, as if 
God was responsible for his sin, and God was guilty. 

Now, I venture to say that if I should go down among 
the congregation here to-night, every man that has not 
accepted this invitation would be ready with an excuse. 

77 



78 Moody's sermons. 

You have all got excuses. You would have one right on 
the end of your tongue. You would be ready to meet 
me the moment I got to you. If I met that excuse, then 
you would get another, and you would hide behind that. 
Then, if I drove you out from behind that, you would 
get another. And so you would go on, hiding behind 
some excuse, making some excuse; and if you should get 
cornered up and could not think of one, Satan would be 
there to help you make one. That has been his busi- 
ness for the past six thousand years. He is very good to 
help men make excuses, and undoubtedly he helped these 
three men we read of here to-night. No sooner do we 
begin to preach the gospel of the Son of God than men 
begin to manufacture excuses. They begin to hunt 
around to see if they cannot find some reason to give for 
not accepting the invitation. Excuses are the cradle, in 
other words, that Satan rocks men off to sleep in. He 
gets them into that cradle of excuses that they may ease 
their conscience. 

But let me say to you, my friends, there is no man or 
woman in this assembly to-night that can give an ex- 
cuse that will stand the light of eternity. All these ex- 
cuses that men are making are nothing but refuges of 
lies after all. We read in the prophecy of Isaiah that 
God shall sweep away these refuges of lies. When a man 
stands before God he will not be making excuses. His 
excuses will all be gone then, and he will be speechless. 

W T e read of that man that got into the feast without a 
wedding garment, and when the lord of the feast came 
in he saw the man there. That man, perhaps, thought 
he could get in with the crowd. Some people say, '* O, 
I will go with the crowd." He thought he could get in 



EXCUSED. 79 

with the crowd, and he would not be noticed. But that 
eye was keen to detect one that had not on the wedding 
garment. Do not think for a moment that God's eye is 
not upon you? He knows how all these excuses are 
made. You cannot hide anything from Him. You may 
make excuses and put on a sort of garment, and then you 
are justifying yourself in living away from God and not 
accepting this invitation; but really it is nothing that will 
stand the light of eternity. Things look altogether dif- 
ferent when you stand before Him. 

Did you ever stop to think what would take place in 
a city like this city, if God should take every man and 
woman that wants to be excused at their word, and 
should say, " I will excuse you"? God took these three 
men that we read of at their word. He said, " Not one 
of them that were bidden shall taste of my supper." They 
spurned the invitation; they turned their backs upon it; 
and then God withdrew the invitation. " Not one of 
them that were bidden shall taste of my supper." Sup- 
pose that that should take place in this city, and then by 
a stroke of providence He should sweep every man and 
woman in this city that wants to be excused from this 
feast into eternity. Suppose every man and woman that 
wanted to be excused from this feast should die inside of 
twenty-four hours. I think there would be plenty of 
room in this tabernacle to-morrow night for all that want 
to come. There would be a good many of your stores 
closed to-morrow. There would be no one to open them. 
Merchants, employees, clerks would all be gone. Every 
saloon in this city would be closed up. Every rumseller 
wants to be excused from this feast. He can't get into 
the kingdom of God with a rum-bottle in his hand. 



80 Moody's sermons. 

"Woe be to the man that putteth the bottle to his 
neighbor's lips." He knows very well that if he accepts 
this invitation he has got to give up his hellish traffic. 
Every blasphemer in this city wants, to be excused from 
this feast, because if he accepts this invitation he has 
got to give up his blasphemy. Every drunkard in this 
city, every harlot, every thief, every dishonest man, 
every dishonest merchant would be gone. They want to 
be excused from this feast. Why? Because they have 
got to turn away from their sins if they accept of this 
invitation. The longer I live, the more I am convinced, 
that the reason men do not come to Christ is because 
they do not want to give up sin. That is the trouble. It 
is not their intellectual difficulties. It is quite popular 
for people to say that they have got intellectual diffi- 
culties; but if they would tell the honest truth, it is some 
darling sin that they are holding on to. They are not 
willing to give up the harlot; they are not willing to 
give up gambling; they are not willing to give 
up drinking; the lust of the flesh; the lust of the eye, 
and the pride of life. That is the trouble. It is not their 
intellectual difficulties so much as it is their darling sin. 
The grass would soon be growing in your streets in this 
city if God should take every man at his word, and 
excuse him from this feast and take him away. Things 
would look altogether different in your city inside of a 
week if God should excuse you that want to be excused. 
And yet, the moment that God sends out His invitation, 
excuses just run right in. " I pray thee, have me ex- 
cused." That is the cry to-day. Man prepares his feast, 
and there is a great rush to get the best seats. God pre- 
pares His feast, and what a feast it is! Think of it! It 
is not often that common people like you and me get an 



EXCUSED. 8 1 

invitation to a royal feast. There is many a man that 
has lived in Windsor castle for fifty years, and has never 
got sight of Queen Victoria. There are men in London 
that stand high, men of wealth, men of position, who 
never were invited into her palace. Men think it is a 
great honor to be invited into a king's palace or the 
palace of a queen. But here we are invited to the mar- 
riage of the Lamb. We are invited by the Lord of glory 
to come to the marriage of His only begotten Son, and 
men begin to make excuses. "I pray thee, have me 
excused." 

Now, let us look for a moment at the excuses that these 
three men gave. The first man might have been very 
polite. Some men are very polite. Some are very gruff, 
and treat you with a great deal of scorn and contempt. 
The moment you begin to talk to them they say, " You 
attend to your business, and I will attend to mine." But 
I can imagine this man was a very polite man. and he 
said, " I wish you would take back this message to your 
lord, that I would like to be at that feast. Tell him 
there is not a man in the kingdom that would rather be 
there than myself, but I am so situated that I can't come. 
Just tell him I have bought me a piece of ground, and 
that I must needs go and see it." Queer time to go and 
see to land, wasn't it? Just at that supper time. They 
were invited to supper, you see. But he must needs go 
and see it. He had not made a partial bargain and 
wanted to go and close the bargain. He did not have 
that good excuse. He had bought the land, and he must 
needs go and see it. Could he not go and see this land 
the next morning? Could he not have accepted this in- 
vitation and then gone and seen his land? If he had 



82 Moody's sermons. 

been a good business man, some one has said, he would 
have gone and looked at the land before he bought it. 
But the land was already bought, and the trade made. 
He did not say, "I want to get the deed on record, 
because I am afraid some one else will get a deed of it, 
and get it on record first, and I will lose it." He had not 
got that good an excuse. The only excuse he had was, 
" I have bought me a piece of ground, and I must needs 
go and see it." You will see it was a lie right on the 
face of it. It was just manufactured to ease that man's 
conscience. He did not want to go to the feast, and he 
had not the common honesty to come out with it, and 
say, " I don't want to go to the feast, but just take back 
word that I have bought me a piece of ground, and I 
must needs go and see it," and away he went. How 
many men are giving their business as an excuse for not 
accepting this invitation! You talk to them about things 
pertaining to the kingdom of God, and they tell you 
they have got to attend to business; that business is very 
pressing. It does not say that this was a bad man. He 
might have been as moral as any man in this city. He 
might have held as high a position as any man in this 
city. He might have ridden in his chariot. He might 
have been a very liberal man to the poor. He might 
have been a very benevolent man. He might have given 
his substance, but he neglected to accept this invitation, 
and Christ teaches us plainly that if we neglect this sal- 
vation, how shall we escape the damnation of hell? 

People say, "What have I done? I have not got 
drunk; I have not murdered; I have not lied; I have not 
stolen. What have I done?" I will take you on the 
ground that you have not done anything; I will not admit 



EXCUSED. 83 

that for a moment, but suppose I take you on that 
ground. If a man neglects salvation, he will be lost. 
You see a man in yonder river, his oars lying in the bot- 
tom of his boat, and he is out there in the current; his 
arms are folded, and the current is quietly drawing him 
toward the rapids. Some one warns him. " Say, friend, 
you are hastening toward the rapids." " No, I am doing 
nothing, sir. My arms are folded. What have I done? " 
11 But you are drawing toward the rapids." " I tell you 
sir, I am not; I am doing nothing." You may try to 
convince him, but he will be blind. So indeed he is not 
doing anything, but that current is quietly drawing him 
toward the cataract, and in a few moments he will go 
over. Many a man is flattering himself that he is not 
doing anything, but let him neglect salvation, and he is 
lost. 

The next man's excuse was one manufactured for the 
occasion. It was not one whit better than the excuse of 
the first man, " Take back word to thy lord that I can- 
not come. I have got pressing business. I have bought 
five yoke of oxen, and I must needs go to prove them." 
As if he had to prove his oxen that night at supper time! 
He had plenty of time to prove his oxen. He had 
bought them. They were in his stall. But the fact was, 
he was like the first man; he did not want to go and 
had not the common honesty to say so, and so he says, 
"I have bought five yoke of oxen, and I must needs go 
and prove them." He must go right off that night to 
prove them. That is his excuse. There is not a child 
five years old that cannot see that excuse is just man- 
ufactured. 

These men began to make excuses. They did not 



84 Moody's sermons. 

have one; they manufactured excuses to ease their con- 
sciences. It was nothing but a downright lie; that is 
what it was. Let us call things by their right names. 
People think if they can make a sort of plausible excuse 
they are justified. But these excuses are nothing but 
refuges of lies. 

The third man's excuse is more absurd than the others; 
' ' I have married me a wife, and therefore I cannot come." 
Who likes to go to a feast better than a young bride? 
He might have taken his wife with him. He had no ex- 
cuse. That was the excuse he was hiding behind. " I 
have married me a wife, and therefore I cannot come." 
If his wife would not go with him, he could let her stay 
at home, and he could go. This has got to be a per- 
sonal matter. We are not going to heaven in families, 
as I said last night. It is a thing between you and your 
God. The invitation was extended to that man as the 
head of his own house. He was priest over his own 
household, and he had no excuse; but he just made up 
that excuse. 

Now, there is nothing on record, you might say, against 
those three men. You might say there were a good 
many things noble about those men. It does not say 
that they were licentious; it does not say that they were 
drunkards; it does not say that they were dishonest; it 
does not say that they were thieves, but they only made 
excuses so as not to be at that feast. They did not want 
to accept of the feast. 

I notice some of you smile as I take up those three ex- 
cuses; but I would like to ask this congregation this 
question: Have you a better one? Come! I see a 
young man laughing down there. Have you a better 



EXCUSED. 85 

excuse yourself? Come! Eighteen hundred years have 
rolled away, -and they tell us we are living in a very wise 
age, that we are living in a very intellectual age, that 
men are growing much wiser, and that we know a good 
deal more than our fathers did; but with all men's boasted 
knowledge, can you find a man to-day who has a bet- 
ter excuse than those three men had? During the last 
three years I have spent most of my time talking to peo- 
ple about their salvation; their individual difficulties, and 
I have yet to find the first man or the first woman that 
can give me a better excuse than those three men had. 
I tell you, that man or that woman cannot be found to- 
day. I will defy any man to come forward to-night and 
give me a better excuse than those three men had. The 
excuses men are hiding behind to-day are fearful. There 
is not an excuse that you would dare to give to God. 
Things look altogether different when you come to stand 
before Him. 

Take a piece of paper, if you have it in your pocket, 
and a pencil and write down, ' * Why should I serve the 
god of this world?" Second, " Why should I serve the 
God of the Bible? " Then put down your reasons why 
you should serve the god of this world, and your reasons 
why you should serve the God of the Bible, and see how 
it looks; because it is clearly taught that we either serve 
the god of this world or the God of heaven. We can- 
not be neutral. There is no neutrality about this mat- 
ter. We are either for God or against Him. We can- 
not serve God and mammon. We are either serving the 
god of this world — that is, Satan — or we are serving the 
God of heaven. The line is drawn. You may not be 
able to see it, but God sees it. God knows the heart of 



86 Moody's sermons. 

every man and woman in this assembly. He knows all 
about us, and He sees right through the excuses we make. 
He looks at the heart. He does not look at the excuses 
you make. Those are only from the tongue. They are 
only manufactured in the head. He knows that the dif- 
ficulty lies down in the heart It is because you will not 
come unto Him. It is not because men cannot come; it 
is because men set their wills up against God's will, and 
are not willing to yield. 

One of the popular excuses of the present day is this 
good old book, the Bible. It is amazing to hear some 
men talk. I have touched upon this a number of times 
since I have come to this city, but I find as I come out 
west a good deal of infidelity; men profess to be infidels. 
It is astonishing to hear them talk about the Bible, some- 
thing they do not know anything about. I can find 
scarcely one of them that has ever looked into it and 
read it, and who knows anything about it. They have 
heard some infidel lecture, some scoffing, sneering man 
come along caviling at the Bible, and they have heard 
some few things that man has said, and they bring them 
out on all occasions. They will not look into that book 
and ask God to help them to understand it. If a man 
will be honest with God, God will be honest with him. 
There is no trouble about this book; the trouble is with 
the life. 

Wilmot, the great infidel, as he lay dying, putting his 
hand upon that book, said, ''The only thing against 
that book is a bad life." When a man has got a bad 
record against him, he wants to get that book out of the 
way, because it condemns him; that is the trouble. The 
trouble is not with the book; it is with your record and 



EXCUSED. 87 

mine. Because that book condemns sin, we want to get 
it out of the way. Men do not like to be condemned; 
that is the trouble. 

Then men say they cannot understand it. Well, you 
and the Bible agree exactly. A man was telling me 
some time ago that he could not understand the Bible. I 
said, " You and the Bible agree exactly." He said, " I 
don't agree with the Bible at all." " Well," I said, "you 
agree exactly," and I referred him to a passage in the 
prophecy of Daniel, " Many shall be purified and made 
white and tried; but the wicked shall do wickedly, and 
none of the wicked shall understand. " That is what 
Scripture says. If a man is living in sin, God is not 
going to reveal to that man his secrets. 

I would like to ask those men who are giving this 
Bible as an excuse for not becoming Christians, who 
wrote that book? Did bad men write it? It is a very 
singular thing that they should write their own condemna- 
tion, isn't it? How that book condemns bad men! Bad 
men would not write their own condemnation, would 
they? They do not do it now-a-days, do they? They 
are the last ones to write their own condemnation. Well, 
if a good man wrote a bad book, they could not be good, 
could they? 

Now, it seems to me, that if a man will stop to think 
a moment, he will see that the trouble is not with the 
book. The trouble is with himself. And when a man 
bows to the will of God, that book becomes food to his 
soul. He can feed on it then; there is something to feed 
on. He gets life from it; he gets power, and he gets 
something that tells him how he can get victory over 
himself. I consider that the greatest triumph a man can 



SB Moody's sermons. 

have in this world. A man that knows how to rule him 
self is greater than he that taketh a city. Look at the 
misery and woe that has come into the world through 
that one door, men and women that cannot control them- 
selves, that cannot control their tempers, their lusts, 
their passions, and their appetites. That book tells me 
how I can get victory over myself; and it is the only book 
in the wide world that can tell a man how to get victory 
over himself. I haven't time to dwell upon that excuse 
any longer. 

There is another very common excuse, and I have 
heard it in this city as much as any. " Why," they say, 
" Mr. Moody, you know it is a very hard thing to be a 
Christian — a very hard thing." When they tell me that 
I like to ask them, "Which is the hardest master, the 
devil" — for we will call him by his right name, because 
every man that serves not the Lord Jesus Christ, and will 
have nothing to do with the God of the Bible, is serving 
the god of this world. — " now, which is the easiest 
master? " 

Christ says that His }oke is easy, and His burden is 
light. Now, you go right along and say, "That is a lie." 
You don't say it right out in plain English, but we may 
as well talk plainly to-night. When you say it is hard 
to be a Christian, you say that God is a liar; that it is an 
easier thing to serve the god of this world than it is the 
God of the Bible. Now, I want to say that I consider 
that one of the greatest lies that ever came out of the pit 
of hell; and how Satan can stand up in this nineteenth 
century and make men believe he is an easier master 
than the God of heaven is one of the greatest mysteries 
of the present day. 



EXCUSED. 89 

" The way of the transgressor is hard." Blot it out if 
you can. Close up that book, and you will see the evi- 
dence of that fact all around you. There is not a day 
passes but you can read upon the pages of the daily 
papers, "The way of the transgressor is hard." I wish 
I could drive that lie back into hell where it came from. 

You go over to the Tombs in New York city, and you 
will find a little iron bridge running from the police court 
where the men are tried right into the cell. I think the 
New York officials have not been noted for their piety 
in your time and mine; but they had put up there in 
iron letters on that bridge, ' ' The way of the transgressor 
is hard." They know that is true. Blot it out if you can. 
God Almighty said it. It is true. "The way of the 
transgressor is hard." On the other side of that bridge 
they put these words, " A bridge of sighs." I said to one 
of the officers, " What did you put that up there for?" 
He said that most of the young men — for most of the 
criminals are young men; "The wicked don't live out 
their days," put that in with it — he said most of the 
young men, as they passed over that iron bridge went 
over it weeping. So they called it the bridge of sighs. 
" What made you put that other there, 'The way of the 
transgressor is hard'"? " Well," he said, "it is hard. I 
think if you had anything to do with this prison you 
would believe that text, ' The way of the transgressor is 
hard.'" 

If a man will just look around him and keep in mind 
this one truth, "The way of the transgressor is hard," 
he will be thoroughly convinced inside of twenty-four 
hours that that passage of Scripture is true. It is not that 
God's service is hard. The trouble with men is, they are 



90 Moody's sermons. 

trying to serve God with the old Adam nature. They 
are trying to serve God before they are born of God. 
Now, to tell a man in the flesh to serve God in the spirit, 
who is a spirit, I would just as soon tell a man to try to 
jump over the moon and expect him to do it. He can- 
not do it. The natural man is not subject to the law of 
God, and neither indeed can he be. You are not to try to 
serve God until you are born of God, until you are born 
again, born from above, until you are born of the spirit; 
and when a man is born of the spirit, the yoke is easy, and 
the burden is light. I have been in the service upwards 
of twenty years, and I want to testify to-night that my 
master is not a hard master. What say you, ministers 
here to-night, do you find Him a hard master? Speak 
out. I thought you would say so. 

Ah, my friends, He is not a hard master. I want to 
have you remember that. No, He is not a hard master. 
That is one of the lies coming from the pit. "My yoke 
is easy, and my burden is light." When a man submits 
his heart and will to God, takes Christ into his heart and 
lives a life of faith, it is delightful. 

Now, I will tell you a good way to get at this. Put 
you people into a jury-box. Just imagine you are on a 
jury to-night. I will take the most faithful follower the 
Lord Jesus has got in this city. I don't know who the 
person is; it may be a man or woman that the papers, 
perhaps, have no record of. God knows where His loved 
ones are. It may be some poor person off in some dark 
street, but it is one who has great faith and walks with 
God, whose life is as pure and spotless and blameless as 
any person's that you can find; one that has been living 
with Jesus Christ, say, fifty years. Let that person, come 



EXCUSED. 91 

up on this platform to-night, and speak out and testify. 
You will see in his face that he has not had a hard mas- 
ter. There will be no wrinkles in that brow. There 
will be light in the eye, there will be peace stamped upon 
that brow, joy beaming from that countenance. He 
need not speak; let that person stand here, and by his 
face he will show he has a good master and an easy 
master. 

Now, find the most faithful follower that the devil has 
got in this city. Let him or her come up here. Ah, 
you need not speak. I think you would say, "That is 
enough." You can tell by the looks, for the devil puts 
his mark upon his own. He stamps the mark deep. Men 
may try to get rid of it, but they carry the mark. And 
the Lord Jesus puts his stamp upon his own. You take 
the two and draw the contrast and see if that lie that has 
come from Satan is not as great a lie as ever was told, 
that our Lord is a hard master. When people say they 
would like to become a Christian, but it is a hard thing 
to be a Christian, they virtually say God is a hard mas- 
ter, and Satan is an easy one. 

Now, do you think it easy to go against your own con- 
victions? Because that is what men do. They have to 
stifle conscience to serve the god of this world and turn 
their back on the God of the Bible. Do you think it is an 
easy thing to go against your own judgment? For if a 
man will just stop and consult his judgment, his judg- 
ment will tell him that the safest, and wisest, and best 
thing he can do is to believe on the God of the Bible. Is 
it an easy thing to go against the advice and wishes of 
the best friends you have got? There is not a person in 
this congregation to-night that has got a true friend that 



92 Moody's sermons. 

would not advise him to serve the God of heaven. A 
man or woman that would advise you to serve the god of 
this world would be the worst enemy you could have. 
They would make the world dark and bitter. Is it an 
easy thing to trample a mother/s prayers under your feet, 
to break a mother's heart and send her down to an un- 
timely grave? That is easy, is it? Ah, many a man has 
done it. You call that easy. Is it easy to go against 
the very best counsel and advice you have from the best 
and most loved friends you have got? Hear what the 
master said to Saul, "Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou 
me? It is hard for thee." He did not talk about its being 
hard for the disciples that Saul was going to put in prison, 
and, perhaps, have them stoned to death like Stephen. 
It was not as hard for Stephen to be stoned to death as 
it was for Saul to persecute him. "Saul, Saul, why 
persecutest thou me? It is hard for thee to kick against 
the pricks." It is hard for a man to contend with his 
Maker. It is hard for a man to fight against the God of 
the Bible. It is an unequal controversy. It is an un- 
equal battle, and God is going to have the victory. It is 
folly for a man to attempt to fight against the God of 
that Bible. 

Mr. Spurgeon uses this parable of a tyrant ordering a 
subject into his presence and saying to him, " What is 
your occupation?" "I am a blacksmith." "Well," 
says he, "I want you to go and make a chain a certain 
length," and he gave him nothing to make it with, " and 
on a certain day I want you to bring it into my presence." 
That day came. The blacksmith appeared with his 
chain. The tyrant says, "Take that chain and make it 
twice that length . " He took it, worked a long time and 



EXCUSED. 93 

made it twice the length, and brought it back. The ty- 
rant says, "Take that chain and make it twice the 
length." He made it twice the length, and he had to get 
friends to help him get it in the presence of the tyrant; 
and when he brought it back, the tyrant says to his men 
standing around, " Take that man and bind him hand 
and foot, and cast him into a dungeon;" and, says Mr. 
Spurgeon, ' ' that is what every man that is serving the 
god of this world is doing, forging the chain that is going 
to bind him." A man goes into a saloon and takes a so- 
cial glass. You step up and tell that man of his danger; 
that he is binding himself, and that by and by he will be 
bound hand and foot, and he will laugh you to scorn and 
mock you, but he goes on adding link after link to that 
chain. By-and-by the tyrant has got him bound, and he 
says, " Now, let us see you assert your freedom." Men 
say they don't want to give up their freedom. There is 
no freedom until a man knows the Lord Jesus Christ. 
A man is a slave to sin, to his passions and lusts, until 
Christ snaps the fetters and sets him free. 

There was a man I used to know in Chicago that I 
talked to a great many times about drinking. He was a 
business man. He used to say, "I can stop when I 
please. " One night I went out, and my family heard a 
strange noise. We lived on the corner. They heard 
him coming down the side street, and he made an un- 
earthly noise; and my wife said to the servants, "Are 
the doors locked? " He came around to the front door 
and tried to burst the door open. My wife says, "What 
•do you want?" " O," he says, "I want to see your 
husband." " Well, he has gone down to the meeting.' 
Away he started. I was walking down to the church, 



94 MOODY S SERMONS. 

and he went by me . He was running so fast he could 
not stop . He went on a rod or two and came back. 
The poor fellow was nearly frightened out of his life. 
He says, "I have got to die to-night." " O, no, you 
are not going to die." "I have got to die to-night." 
«« Why," says I, " what is the trouble? " And I found the 
man had drank so much that he was under the power of 
the enemy. I saw what his trouble was. ''Why," he 
says, ' ' Satan is coming to my house to-night to take me 
to hell, and," says he, "I have got to go. I begged of 
him to let me stay till one o'clock . He told me at one 
o'clock he will be back after me." I said, " He will not 
come after you." " He will; there is no chance of my 
getting away from him. He is coming!" Well, I 
couldn't convince that man. Poor man! He had been 
serving the god of this world, and now he was reaping 
what he had been sowing. On that night I had six men 
come to that man's house, and at one o'clock those six 
men could not hold him. " Look there! see him! There 
they are! They are after me! He is taking me! He is 
going to take me to hell! He is after me! " I thought 
that man would really die. Poor man! He is one of 
those men that thought God a hard master, and the devil 
was one that was easy . That is the way the devil serves 
his subjects. Reaping time is coming. Poor man! 
He suffered untold agonies that night . Yet men, with 
all these witnesses around them, will go on drinking. A 
young man will go from this tabernacle to-night, and 
go down to a saloon and order a glass and drink, and go 
on drinking, until by-and-by delirium seizes him, and the 
snakes crawl around his body, and would seem as if 
death would lay right hold of him , I can't describe it . 



EXCUSED. 95 

It would take some of these men that have been there 
to tell you about it. O, tell me that the devil is an easy 
master and that God is a hard one! Away with that lie; 
away with that excuse. My friends, never give it as long 
as you live. It is false. 

When I was in Paris I saw a little oil painting, only 
about a foot square; it was at the Paris exposition in 
1867. I was going through the art gallery, and on that 
painting there was a little piece of white paper that at- 
tracted my attention. I went and looked at that white 
paper, and it said, " Sowing Tares," and there was the 
most hideous countenance I think I ever saw. A man 
was taking out a handful of seed, sowing tares all around 
him, and wherever a tare dropped there grew up some 
vile reptile, and they were crawling up his body and all 
around him. Off in the distance was a dark thicket, and 
prowling around the borders of that forest were wild 
beasts, and that hellish and fiendish look! What a fear- 
ful thing it is for a man to sow tares when he is a-going 
to reap them! And yet man goes on sowing with a liberal 
hand, and laughs and scoffs when we warn him and tell 
him what he is coming to by-and-by. The papers are 
full of it. I sometimes think these papers ought to 
preach the gospel to the people, ought to warn them to 
flee from the wrath to come. 

Look at that case we have just had in a court in New 
Jersey. Look at that poor man . For four long days 
the jury has been out. I don't know when my heart has 
been more touched than when I read that scene in court, 
when those little children climbed up on their father's 
knee and said, " Papa, papa, come home. Mamma 
cries so much now you are away." The law had him. 



g6 Moody's sermons. 

Poor man! He reaped what he sowed. He had an 
uncontrollable temper. He took his weapon and shot 
down a coachman because he got mad with him. He 
never will get over it. He never can step back into the 
place where he was. The jury may acquit him. Poor 
man; he has got to reap a bitter, bitter reaping; what an 
awful thing sin is; and yet men will stand up with all 
these facts around them and tell you God is a hard mas- 
ter and the devil an easy one. 

Let us look at the scene in the court. A young man 
just coming into manhood, twenty-one, promising, tal- 
ented, gifted, beautiful young man, an only son; but he 
has been out drinking, and in a drunken spree helped kill 
a man, and now he is on trial for his life. In that court 
sit his father and mother and three lovely sisters. That 
is the only brother they have got . That is the only son 
they have got. The jury bring in the verdict, guilty; 
the man is sentenced to the penitentiary for life. 

And with all these facts people stand up and say God 
is a hard master, and the devil is an easy one. O, that 
the God of heaven may open our eyes to-night to show 
us how wicked it is to give these excuses, and that we 
will have to answer for them at the bar of God — for a 
person with an open Bible to say that God is a hard mas- 
ter and that Satan is an easy one. 

I remember of closing a young men's meeting in Chi- 
cago a few years ago, when a young man got up and 
said, ' ' Mr. Moody, would you allow me to say a few 
words?" And I said, "Say on." " Well," said he, "I 
want to say to these young men, that if they have friends 
that care for them, and friends that love them, and that 
are praying for them, I want to say you had better treat 



EXCUSED. 97 

them kindly, for you will not always have them. I want 
to tell you something in my own experience. I was an 
only son, and I had a very godly father and mother. No 
young man in Chicago had a better father and mother 
than I had; and because I was an only child, I suppose, 
they were very anxious for my salvation, and they used 
to plead with me to come to Christ. My father many a 
time at the family altar used to break down in his at- 
tempt to pray for his only boy. At last my father died, 
and after my father died my mother became more anx- 
ious than ever that I should become a Christian. Some- 
times she would come and put her loving arms around 
my neck and say, ' My boy, if you were only a Christian 
I would be so happy. If you would take your father's 
place at the family worship, and help me worship God, 
it would cheer your mother.' I used to push her away 
and say, 'Mother, don't talk to me that way; I don't 
want to become a Christian yet; I want to see some- 
thing of the world.' Sometimes I would wake up in the 
night and hear my mother praying, * O God, save my 
boy! ' and it used to trouble me, and at last I ran away 
to get away from my mother's influence, and away from 
her prayers. I became a wanderer. I did not let her 
know where I went. When I did hear from home in- 
directly, I heard that that mother was sick. I knew 
what it meant. I knew it was my conduct that was 
crushing that mother and breaking her heart, and I 
thought I would go home and ask her forgiveness. Then 
the thought came that if I did I would have to become a 
Christian, and my proud heart would not yield. I would 
not go. Months went on, and I heard again indirectly. 
I believe that if my mother had known where I was she 



98 Moody's sermons. 

would have come to me. I believe she would have gone 
around the world to find her boy. And when I heard 
that she was worse, the thought came over me that she 
might not recover, and I thought that I would go home 
and cheer her lonely heart. There was no railway in 
the town, and I had to take the stage. I got into town 
about dark. The moon had just begun to sh^ne. , My 
mother lived back about a mile and a half from the hotel, 
and I started back on foot, and on my way I had to go 
by the village grave-yard. When I got to it I thought I 
would go and see if there was a new-made grave. I 
can't tell why, but my heart began to droop, and as I 
drew near that spot I trembled. By the light of the 
moon I saw a new-made grave. For the first time in my 
life this question came stealing over me, ' Who is going 
to pray for my lost soul now? ' Father has gone, and 
mother is dead. They are the only two that ever cared 
for me, the only two that ever prayed for me. I took up 
the earth and saw that the grave was a new-made grave; 
1 saw that my mother had just been laid away; and, 
young men, I spent that night by my mother's grave. I 
did not leave it until daybreak; but as the morning sun 
came up, right there by my mother's grave, I gave my- 
self away to my mother's God, and then and there settled 
the great question of eternity, and I became a child of 
God. I never will forgive myself. I murdered that 
sainted mother." 

Poor man! He was reaping what he sowed. Tell me 
that the way of the transgressor is easy! Tell me that 
God is a hard master, and that the devil is an easy one! 
Young men, take the God of your mother; take the God 
of the Bible to be your God. Set your faces like a flint 



EXCUSED. 99 

towards heaven to-night, and it will be the best night of 
your life. I wish I could say something to induce you 
to come to Christ. I wish I could see souls pressing 
into the kingdom of God. May the God of all grace 
touch every heart here to-night! 

LofC. 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 



" And they laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in 
the inn." — Luke, ii, 7. 

For four thousand years the Jews had been looking for 
this child. Away back in Eden, before Adam and Eve 
were driven out. God had promised that the seed of the 
woman should bruise the serpent's head. And from 
Adam, all along down the ages, they had been looking 
out into the mist and into the future for this child. The 
prophets had prophesied of His coming, and the nation 
had been in expectation. They were studying at that 
very time the prophecies to find out when He would ap- 
pear. And the first thing that we hear when He comes 
to this country, there was not room tor Him in that little 
inn at Bethlehem. He might have come with all the 
pomp and the glory and grandeur of the upper world. 
Perhaps if He had come with the glory of the angels, 
and the glory of the Father, and His own glory, as He 
will by-and-by, the nation would have received Him 
then, because there would have been something that 
would have pleased the flesh. But the idea of His com- 
ing in such lowliness, the idea of His coming in such 
humility, the natural man did not like it. 

Just think for a moment what He came for; He came 
to give rest to the weary; to seek and to save that which 
was lost; to give sight to the blind; to help those that 

IOO 




the Nativity. Luke, ii, 7-20. 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. IO3 

needed help; to reveal the Father; to bring peace where 
there was trouble; to heal the broken-hearted. And yet 
there was not room for Him! 

When the Prince of Wales visited this country, a few 
years ago, there was plenty of room for him. There was 
not any part of this nation that was not glad to give him 
a welcome. Every city was anxious that he should visit 
them. Every town and village and hamlet was open, 
and would have given him a royal welcome if he would 
have come to their place. When the princes of Europe 
have come to this country, what a welcome they have 
had! Although this is a republican government, yet 
we have been willing to give the princes of earth a wel- 
come. And yet when the Prince of Heaven came down 
into this world, what a welcome did He receive? They 
laid Him m the manger because there was no room for 
Him in the inn. But I can imagine some one says, 
' ' They did not know Him. If they had known who He 
was, they would have given Him a welcome. " I think 
you are greatly mistaken, because we read that when the 
wise men arrived from the east in Jerusalem, and said to 
the king, " Where is He that is born king of the Jews?'' 
not only Herod, but all Jerusalem was thrown into 
trouble. Herod told those wise men to go down into 
Bethlehem and inquire diligently about the young child, 
and bring him word, that he, too, might go down and 
worship the child. A lying hypocrite! He wanted to 
slay the child. 

Not only Jerusalem closed her doors against Him, but 
when He went back to Nazareth, where He was brought 
up, and brought the best news that was ever brought to 
any town; when He went back to Nazareth with the 



id4 Moody's sermons. 

glorious gospel of God, Nazareth did not want Him. 
They took Him out of the synagogue; they took Him 
to the brow of the hill, and they would have hurled Him 
into perdition if they could. They did not want Him. 
There was not room for Him. 

But, my friends, it is a very common saying now that 
the world has grown wiser and better, that we have been 
improving, and that if Christ should return, things would 
be different, that we are in light, and that He came in a 
dark age, that He was not then welcome, but He would 
be now. 

But I would like to ask you to think for a little while. 
What nation would give Him a welcome now? Do you 
know of any? They call America a Christian nation, 
but has America room for the Son of God? Does 
America want Him? Suppose it could be put to a popular 
vote; do you suppose this nation would vote to have Him 
come and reign? He would not carry a ward in this city; 
you know it very well. He w 7 ould not carry a town o** 
a precinct in the United States; you know it very well 
A great many of your so-called Christians would say, 
"We don't want Him; we are not ready." Things would 
have to be straightened up, and there would be a great 
change if Christ should come. The way men are doing 
business, I think, would have to be straightened out. 
Business men don't want Him. You put it to the com- 
mercial men of the present day, and do you think they 
would want Him? Do you think all the tricks in trade 
would be carried on if He were here? Do you think all 
this rascality that is going on at the present day under 
the garb of commerce — a great many very noble men 
are engaged in it — but do you think they want Him to 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. IO5 

come? When He comes He is going to reign in right- 
eousness. I would like to have you tell me to-night of 
any class of people that would like to have Him come 
back. Do you think your politicians would want Him? 
Do you think the republican party would want Him? 
Do you think they would give Him a welcome? Do you 
think the democratic party would want Him? What 
would they do with Him? They have not got room for 
Him; they do not want Him. All this rascality that is 
carried on in politics would have to be done away with 
if He came to reign in righteousness. 

Does your fashionable society want Him, what they 
call the ''upper ten" of the present time? Go up on 
one of your avenues to some fashionable party, and see if 
they- want Him. Begin to talk there about a personal 
Christ, and how precious He is to the soul, and you will 
not be invited a second time. They do not want Him, 
and they do not want you if you live godly in Christ 
Jesus. 

The fact is, there is not any room down here for the 
Son of God. Let a man get up in congress and say, 
"Thus saith the Lord," and they will hoot him out of it. 
Do you think all this trickery and rascality that is car- 
ried on in halls of legislation would go on if Christ should 
reign in righteousness, men selling their votes, men buy- 
ing votes? 

If you will stop and think a little while, you will rind 
that not only this country, but no other country wants 
Him. Do you think England wants Him? I think that 
hellish traffic of liquor would have to be given up; the 
opium trade with China, and a great many other things 
would have to be given up. That is called a Christian 



106 Moody's sermons. 

nation. Let a man get up in parliament and say, "Thus 
saith the Lord," and he would be hooted down. The cry 
of the nation is, " Who is the Lord that we should obey 
Him? " The voice of the king of Egypt has been echo- 
ing through the world ever since. The world has not 
room for Christ. 

When He was here and went from village to village, 
and from town to town, He did not receive a welcome; 
they did not want Him. 

Eighteen hundred years have passed since then; His 
gospel has been proclaimed over hill and dale; men have 
gone across seas and deserts and into all lands proclaim- 
ing the gospel of Christ Jesus, and yet there are a great 
many people right within the sound of the gospel that 
do not want Him. The moment that you begin to 
preach about the Son of God, they put on a long face as 
if you had brought them a death warrant; makes them 
gloomy. O, how the devil has deceived the world! How 
men are under the power of the god of this world! Jesus 
Christ did not come to cast us down, but to lift us up. 
He did not come to make life dark and gloomy; He came 
to make life sweet and beautiful; and when people make 
room in their hearts for the Son of God, He will light 
them up. The heart that is sad and cast down w r ill be 
light and joyful. He came to bless the world. He that 
was rich became poor for your sake and mine. He 
might have come with all the pomp and glory of that 
upper world. He might have been born in a palace and 
fed with a golden spoon. But He passed by palaces and 
went into a manger, that He might get down into sym- 
pathy with the poorest and the lowest. His cradle was 
a borrowed one. The guest chamber where they insti- 
tuted the supper was a borrowed one. 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 10? 

The beast upon which He rode into Jerusalem was a 
borrowed one. The only time we hear of His riding was 
on a borrowed beast. We find also that the sepulcher 
that they laid Him in was a borrowed one. The house 
He lived in was a hired one or a borrowed one. He that 
was rich and had all the glory of that upper world, who 
Himself created the world, became poor for your sake 
and mine. He laid aside all the honor and glory He had 
in that upper world; He laid aside those robes and came 
down here and tasted of poverty for your sake and mine, 
and yet the world turn up their noses and say, "I have 
no desire for Him; I don't want Him." There is a pass- 
age in the seventh of John. I think the seventh and 
eighth chapters never should have been divided. The 
seventh chapter closes up in this way: He had been lift- 
ing the standard very high that day, and many of His 
disciples left Him. " Every man went into his own 
house, and Jesus went to the Mount of Olives," the 
opening of the eighth chapter says. I can imagine that 
night was one of those lonely nights. He came into the 
world to bless the world, and the world didn't want to be 
blessed. He came to do men good, and they didn't want 
to receive anything from Him. "And every man went 
to his own house." Every door in Jerusalem that night 
was closed against Him. At one time He said, "The 
foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, but the 
Son of Man hath not where to lay His head." Think of 
it! The little bird you see flitting by you has its nest, its 
home; the fox has its hole, but the Son of Man hath not 
where to lay His head. I used to think I would like to 
have lived in that day. I would like to have had a home 
in Jerusalem to have invited Him to my home to be my 



108 Moody's sermons. 

guest, and to sit at His feet as Mary did, and let Him 
talk to me. But I suppose if I had lived at that day my 
door would have been closed against Him. But I re- 
member thinking over it some time ago, and the thought 
came stealing ever me that there is one place I can give 
the Son of God a welcome, just one place, and that is 
in my heart. It is the only place He wants to dwell. 
Now, if we make room in our hearts for Him, He will 
gladly come and dwell with us. 

There was a woman right in the midst of this dark- 
ness, when many disciples left Him, who came and invited 
Him to her home, a woman by the name of Martha. I 
can imagine Martha coming from Bethany one day, and 
going to Jerusalem to the temple to worship, when the 
great Galilean prophet came in, and she listened to His 
words, who spake as never man spake. And as the 
words fell from His lips they fell upon Martha's ear, and 
she says, "Well, I will invite Him to my house." It 
must have cost her something to do that. Christ was 
unpopular. There was a hiss going up in Jerusalem 
against Him. They called Him an impostor. The lead- 
ing men of the nation were opposed to Him. They said 
He was Beelzebub, the Lord of filth. They said He was 
an impostor, and a deceiver. And yet Martha invites 
Him to her home. I hope there will be some Martha 
here to-night who will invite Him to her home, to be 
her guest. He will make your home a thousand times 
better home than it has ever been before. 

Martha invited Him home with her. We read of His 
going often to Bethany. That one act will live forever. 
The noblest, the best, the grandest thing Martha ever 
did was to make room in her home for Jesus Christ. 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. IO9 

Little did she know when she invited the Soji of God to 
become her guest who He was; and when we receive 
Jesus Christ into our hearts, little do we know who He 
is. He is growing all the while. It will take all eter- 
nity to find out who He is. 

There was a dark cloud then over that home in Beth- 
any. Martha didn't know it. Mary did not see that 
cloud. It was fast settling down upon that home. It 
was soon going to burst upon that little family. The 
Savior knew all about it. He saw that dark cloud 
coming across that threshold. We read that He often 
lodged there. But a few months after He became their 
friend and guest, Lazarus sickened. The fever laid hold 
of him. It might have been typhoid fever. You can 
see those two sisters watching over that brother. The 
family physician is sent for to Jerusalem, and he comes 
out and does everything he can to restore him to life and 
health; but he sunk lower and lower. Some of us know 
what it is when the doctor comes in and feels the pulse, 
begins to look very serious and takes you off into another 
room, away from the patient, and tells you it is a critical 
case. Martha and Mary passed through that experience. 
There was no hope, and Lazarus must die. They 
thought if Jesus was only here He would rebuke this 
disease. He might keep death from taking away our 
only brother. They sent a messenger a good ways off 
to tell Jesus His friend was sick, and this was the mes- 
sage, " He whom thou lovest is sick." They do not ask 
Him to come. They knew Jesus loved him, and that 
He would come if it was for their good. The messenger 
at last returned. He found Christ and delivered his 
message. When he got back, he found that that cloud 



IIO MOODY S SERMONS. 

had burst upon that little home; that Lazarus was^dead 
and buried. I see those two sisters as they gather 
around the messenger. They said, " Did you find Him?" 
' ' Yes, I found Him. " " What did He say? " "He said 
the sickness was not unto death, and He would come and 
see him;" and for the first time I see faith beginning to 
stagger. Mary says, "Are you sure you understood 
Him? Did He say the sickness was not unto death?" 
"Yes." "Are you quite sure?" "Yes." "Well,'' 
says Mary, "that is strange. If He is a prophet He 
should have known that he was dead. Elijah would have 
known it. If He was a prophet, why He must have 
known it. You hadn't been away from the house an 
hour before Lazarus died. He was dead when you met 
Him." " Well, that is what He told me. He said He 
would come here and see him." I see those two sisters 
as they kept watching for that friend to come and com- 
fort them. How long those nights must have been as 
they watched and watched. I can imagine they did not 
sleep through the night. They listened to hear a foot- 
fall. The next day they watched, and He did not come. 
The second night passed, and He did not come. The 
third day came, and He did not come. The fourth day 
came, and a messenger came running in and says, " Mar- 
tha, Jesus and His apostle are just outside of the walls 
of the city. He is coming on toward Bethany." Martha 
runs out and says, " If Thou hadst been here my brother 
had not died. Thou wouldst have kept death away from 
our dwelling." Jesus answered, " But thy brother shall 
rise again." 

I would give more for such a friend than all the infi- 
dels in America. I would rather have such a friend than 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. Ill 

have the wealth of the world. When death has come 
and taken my wife and taken my children, to have a 
voice say to me, "I am the resurrection and the life. 
He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall 
he live." Little did Martha know whom she was enter- 
taining when she invited Christ into her home. The 
world has been sneering at Martha ever since, but it was 
the grandest, the sublimest and noblest act of her life. 
O my friends, make room for the Son of God in your 
homes. Let the world go on mocking and scoffing. The 
hour will come when the cloud will burst on your homes, 
when death will come down in your dwelling and take 
away a loved mother, a loved child, a loved father. Then 
what is your infidelity and atheism? But the words of 
the Son of God, how they comfort then! " Thy brother 
shall rise again." "Yes, I knew that," says Martha. 
He had probably taught them of the resurrection. "I 
know he will rise again, for he was such a good brother. 
He will rise at the resurrection of the just." Says the 
Son of God, " I am the resurrection of the just. I 
carry the keys with Me. I have the keys to death and 
the grave." And He says, "Where is Mary? Go call 
her." I hope there is some Mary here that will hear the 
voice of the Son of God call to-night. They ran and 
told Mary Jesus was there. I suppose Mary and Mar- 
tha talked it all over, for Mary came out and said the 
same words, " If Thou hadst been here my brother had 
not died." ''Thy brother shall rise again." "Yes, I 
know he will rise in the resurrection of the just." " I 
am the resurrection of the just. Where have you laid 
him? " Look at that company as they went along 
toward the graveyard. These two sisters are telling 



112 MOODY S SERMONS. 

about the last words and last acts of Lazarus. Perhaps 
Lazarus left a loving message for Jesus. You know what 
that is. When you go to see friends who are mourning, 
how they will dwell upon the last words and the last 
acts of the departed one. You see Martha and Mary 
weeping as they went along toward the grave, and the 
Son of God wept with them. He had a heart to weep 
with those who wept, and to mourn with those who 
mourned. He is touched with a feeling of our infirmities. 
He can comfort us in a time of sorrow. 

He said, "Where have you laid him?" And they 
said, " Come and see." And they led the way. He 
said to His disciples, "Take away the stone." And 
again those sisters' faith wavered, and they said, " Lord, 
by this time he stinketh, for he has been dead four days." 
They did not know who their friend was, and when they 
rolled away that stone, Christ cried with a loud voice to 
His old friend, "Lazarus, come forth!" and Lazarus 
then leaped out of that same sepulcher and came forth. 
Some old divine said it was a good thing He singled out 
Lazarus, for there is such power in the voice of the Son 
of God that the dead shall hear His voice, and if He 
had not called Lazarus by name, all the dead in that 
graveyard would have come forth. O, what blindness 
and downright folly for a man or woman to be ashamed 
of Jesus Christ! O, make a friend of Him who has the 
keys of death; who has power to raise our dead friend! 
Your own time is coming. The hour is coming when 
the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and 
come forth. It seemed to just pain the heart of the Son 
of God when He was down here, to find so few people 
that wanted Him. We read of His looking up toward 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. 113 

heaven, and sighing as He looked up toward that world 
where all honored and loved Him, and it seemed as if 
He just sighed for home. As He looked around Him, 
He could see what death was doing. He could see what 
sin was doing. There was death behind Him, on the 
right hand and on the left; yet they were so few that 
wanted Him, so few that cared for Him. He seemed to 
look toward that world and sigh, just longed for the 
time that God's will should be done on earth as it is up 
there in heaven. 

I would like to ask this congregation, did you ever 
have the feeling come over you that no one wanted you? 
I had it once. I remember, when I left my mother and 
went off to Boston. I want to say, if a man wants to 
feel that he is alone in the world, he don't want to go off 
in the wilderness where he can have himself for company, 
but let him go into some of these metropolises or large 
cities, and let him pass down the streets where he can 
meet thousands, and have no one know him or recognize 
him. 

I remember when I went off in that city and tried to 
get work and failed. It seemed as if there was room 
for every one else in the world, but there was none for 
me. For about two days I had that awful feeling that 
no one wanted me. I never have had it since, and I 
never want it again. It is an awful feeling. It seems to 
me that must have been the feeling of the Son of God 
when He was down here. They did not want Him. He 
had come down to save men, and they did not want to 
be saved. He had come to lift men up, and they did not 
want to be lifted up. There was not room for Him in 
this world, and there is not room for Him yet. 



114 MOODY S SERMONS. 

O my friend, is there room for Him in your heart? 
That is the question. There is room for pleasure. There 
is room for lust. There is room for passion. There is 
room for jealousy. There is room for the world. There 
is room for everything but the Son of God; no room for 
Him. When He made these hearts of yours and mine, 
He made room enough for Himself, but a usurper has 
come in and taken possession of His place. When He 
made this world He made room enough for you and me 
and for Him, but when He came, there was not any 
room for Him. The only place they could make room 
for Him was on the cross, and they put Him there. The 
world to-day is a no greater friend of Jesus Christ than 
it was when He was down here, but if His disciples will 
only make room for Him, how He will come and dwell 
with us, and bless us, and lift us up; and He says to us, 
' ' If you will make room for Me down here, I will make 
room for you up there. If you will honor and confess 
Me down here, I will honor you in the courts of heaven, 
and confess you up there in the presence of the Father 
and the angels." 

my friends, make room for Him to-night! Do not 
go out of this house until you have made room for the 
Son of God. 

1 saw some time ago an account of a lady that went 
in to see her neighbor, whom she found weeping as if her 
heart would break. She said to her, "What is the 
trouble?" " Well," she said, " there is my child. It is 
fourteen years old to-day. For fourteen years I have 
watched over and provided for that child. I have not 
allowed my servants to take care of it. During the past 
fourteen years there has not been a night but that I have 



NO ROOM FOR HIM. I I 5 

been up some part of the night with that child. I have 
left society and spent my time at home with that child." 
The child had not a mind. " But," she says, " if that 
child would just recognize me once, it would pay me for 
all I have done; but that child don't know me from a 
stranger." Her heart was just breaking, and as, I read 
I thought, ' ' How many of us treat God in the same 
way? " 

My friends, God has blessed you with health, and a 
home in the Christian land. , He has blessed you with a 
good wife; He has blessed you with children; He has 
blessed some of you with property, and you never have 
looked up once and recognized His loving hand, and 
Raid, " Thank you, Lord Jesus." 

O, this base ingratitude! May God forgive us, and 
may we to-night make room in our hearts for the Son of 
God! Just now, when He is knocking at the door of 
your heart, just pull back the bolt and say " Welcome! 
Thrice welcome! " and see how quick He will come. 
What is He saying? Listen! Hark! Does the heart 
throb? That is Christ knocking! " Behold, I stand at 
the door and knock. If any man will open the door, I 
will come in to him and sup with him, and he with Me." 

O sinner, just unlock the door of your heart to-night. 
Just throw that door wide open and say "Welcome! 
thrice welcome, Son of God, into this heart of mine! " 
and see how quick He will come and dwell with you. 
He will never leave you; He will never forsake you. In 
the time of trouble He will be your counselor. In the 
time of sorrow He will be your deliverer. If you want 
"a friend that sticketh closer than a brother," make 
room in your heart for the Son of God. If you want a 
friend that will help you in the time of temptation and 
trial, make room in your heart for the Son of God. 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 



" For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being 
judges." — Deut, xxxii, 31. 

This was Moses' farewell address. He was about to 
leave the children of Israel in the wilderness. He had 
led them up to the borders of the promised land. For 
forty long years he had been leading them in that wil- 
derness, and now, as they were about to go over, Moses 
takes his farewell; and among the good things he said, 
for he said a great many very wise and very good thing? 
on that memorable occasion, this is one, " For their rock 
is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being 
judges." There was not a man on the face of the earth 
at that time that knew as much about the world, and as 
much about God, as Moses. Therefore he was a good 
judge. He had tasted of the pleasures of the world. In 
the forty years that he was in Egypt he probably sam- 
pled everything of that day. He tasted of the world, of 
its pleasures. He knew all about it. He was brought 
up in the palace of a king, a prince. Egypt then ruled 
the world, as it were. He had been forty years in Horeb, 
where he had heard the voice of God; where he had 
been taught by God; and for forty years he had been 
serving God. You might say he was God's right-hand 
man, leading those bondmen up out of the land of Egypt, 

116 




Moses Breaking the Tables of the Law. Exodus, xxxii, 



19. 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 119 

and out of the house of bondage, into the land of liberty; 
and this is his dying address, you might say, his fare- 
well address. This is the dying testimony of one that 
could speak with authority, and one that could speak in- 
telligently. He knew what he was saying, " Their rock 
is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being 
judges." 

Now, to-night I want to take up the atheist, the deist, 
the pantheist, and the infidel; and I want to show, if I 
can, and I think it is not a very difficult thing to show, 
that their way is not as our way. 

I know there is a good deal of dispute now about the 
definition of these words. So, to avoid any trouble, in- 
stead of going to the Bible I went to Webster's diction- 
ary, and I have got the meaning. I suppose you will give 
in, most of you, that Webster is wiser than yourselves. 
There are a few men that are a little wiser than Web- 
ster, for infidelity is generally very conceited. One of 
the worst things about infidelity is the conceit. You sel- 
dom meet an infidel that is not wiser in his own estima- 
tion than the God who created him, and he wants to 
teach God instead of letting God teach him. But those 
that are willing to bow to Webster we will refer to his 
definition of these words. 

An atheist is " one who disbelieves or denies the exist- 
ence of God." I am thankful to say that they are very 
scarce. You meet them now and then. I am sorry to 
say that you will occasionally meet a young man that 
will tell you that he is an atheist. He believes there is 
no God; he believes that there is no hereafter; that when 
he dies, that is the end, that ends all. 

I don't know of anything that is darker; I don't know 



120 MOODY S SERMONS. 

of anything that is colder, bleaker, than that doctrine; 
for, of course, an atheist has feelings like the rest of us. 
If he is a father, he has love for his children. Here is a 
boy that has gone astray; he has been taken captive by 
Satan; he has become a victim to strong drink, we will 
say, and strong drink has got the mastery; and you can 
see that boy as he is going down to a drunkard's grave. 
He says to that father that believes there is no God and 
no hereafter, "Father, is there no deliverance for me? 
Is there no way that I can become a sober man?" " Yes," 
says the atheist, ' ' assert your manhood. Resolve that 
you will never drink any more." "Ah, but, father, I 
have done that a thousand times, and I can't keep those 
resolutions. The tempter is too strong for me. My ap- 
petite is stronger than my will-power, father. Is there 
no God that created me that can help me? " " No, my 
son, no; nothing outside of yourself." " And if I die in 
this condition, what is going to become of me?" " O, 
that will be the last of you." " And shall we never meet 
again in the universe of God?" "No, never." Pretty 
dark, isn't it? And that atheist sees that boy go down to 
a drunkard's grave. There is no arm to deliver, no eye 
to pity. There is no help. 

Look again. He has got a beautiful little child. It 
had lived long enough to twine itself around that father's 
heart, and the cold, icy hand of death is feeling for the 
chords of life, and that little flower is going to be plucked. 
You can see that little child wasting away upon a bed of 
pain and sickness. The child calls the father to its bed- 
side and says, ''Father, is there no hereafter?" "No, 
my child." " Shall we never meet again?" "No, my 
child." "When I die, is that the last of me?" "Yes, 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 121 

my child." Pretty dark, isn't it? That atheist goes and 
lays away that child without one ray of hope, without 
one star to relieve the midnight darkness and gloom. 

A prominent infidel of this country stood at the grave 
of a member of his family. He is an orator, an eloquent 
man; and he said he committed him back to the winds 
and the waves and the elements; it was the last they 
would ever see of him. Pretty dark, isn't it? 

And yet there are some men that want to go over to 
atheism. They want to believe that there is no God. I 
cannot for the life of me see where you get any comfort 
in it. I turn away from it, and I say from the very 
depths of my heart, " Their rock is not as our rock." I 
thank God I have got a better foundation than that; I 
thank God I have got a better hope than that. If my 
boy is led astray, I can preach to him Jesus Christ, and I 
can tell him that God Almighty has got power to deliver 
him from sin, and from its mighty power; and if God 
should take my child from me, I can say to that dear 
child, li I will meet you on the glorious morning of the 
resuriection. It won't be long. We may be separated 
for a little while, but the night will soon pass, and the 
great morning of the world will dawn upon us." Yes, 
" Their rock is not as our rock even our enemies them- 
selves being judges." 

But I must pass on. That is the definition of an athe- 
ist, one that believes there is no God. I want to say if 
there were many atheists in this country we would have 
a great many more suicides than wehave. These men 
that have got tired of life, if they thought that death 
ended all, they would quickly put themselves out of the 
way, and you could not blame them for it. But I think 



122 Moody's sermons. 

there is something down in man's heart that tells him 
there is a hereafter; that there is not only a God, but 
there is a judgment to come. 

Now a deist. A deist is one that believes in one God 
only. He denies Christ and revelation. Deism is not 
much better, I think, than atheism, for I never yet knew 
a deist that knew anything about his God. He believes 
there is a God, and that is all you can get out of him. 

Deists live on their doubts. They live on what they 
do not believe — on negatives. You meet a deist, and he 
would tell you, " I don't believe this, and I don't 
believe that, and that," and he is all the time telling you 
what he don't believe. You seldom, if ever, find a deist 
who will tell you what he does believe, because he knows 
nothing about his God. If a man denies revelation, how 
is he to know anything about God? How are we to 
know our God if we are only deists, and just close that 
book, and not believe in the book? Is He a God of mercy? 
We know nothing about it. Is He a God of truth, and 
equity, and justice? We know nothing about it. How 
are we to know anything about God, if we cast away the 
Bible, and say we don't believe in revelation; that we 
don't believe that Jesus Christ came down here to declare 
His Father, and believe that that book is not written by 
inspiration, and doubt that blessed word of God? I would 
like to have a deist come forward and declare to us his 
God, and tell us who and what he is. 

The pantheist. Let us see what Webster's definition 
of a pantheist is. He believes that the universe is God. 
He believes that God is in the wind, God is in the water, 
God is in the trees, and all the God we know anything 
about is the good we see about us. A pantheist will say, 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 1 23 

''Why, yes, I believe in God. You are God, and I am 
God. We are all gods." That is their idea, that God is 
in everything. I strike that board, and I strike the pan- 
theist's god, because that is as much a god as the god he 
knows. I stamp upon the floor, and I stamp the panthe- 
ist's god. That is all he knows. God is in everything; 
God is everywhere; God is nowhere; that is the summing 
up of pantheism. Now, you will find a great many of 
these pantheists that will tell you they believe more in 
God than we do, because they believe God is in every- 
thing all around. But when you ask a deist or a pan- 
theist if his God answers prayer, he will tell you no. 
"Does He hear the cry of distress?" "No." "Does 
He hear the cry of the humble? " He will tell you that 
the Lord of the universe and the God of the universe 
has just made this world, and has wound it up as a clock, 
and it is going to run; that His laws are fixed; that you 
need not pray; you can't change God's mind; that He 
never answers prayer. If your child has gone astray, you 
can't pray to Him, because He has no mercy. There is 
no mercy but in the wind, and you may as well go out 
and pray to the thunder, to a storm, or a shower, to the 
moon, the sun, the stars, because God is everything and 
everywhere, and yet is nowhere. They don't believe in 
the personality of God. You may just take pantheism, 
deism and atheism, put them all together, and there is 
not much difference. I would as soon be the one as the 
other, because they are in midnight darkness and gloom. 
They know nothing about the God of love and the God 
of the Bible. 

But now we come, perhaps, to the most difficult class, 
because I think that there are a great many infidels, and 



124 MOODY S SERMONS. 

don't like that name. I suppose that saying they were 
infidels had offended quite a number of people in this city. 
They stand up and deny it. But when you come to put 
the question right to them according to Webster's defini- 
tion of infidelity, they are nothing but infidels. Now, an 
infidel is one that does not believe in the inspiration of 
the Scriptures. 

I am sorry to say that we have got to-day a good 
many infidels. The first step toward atheism is infidel- 
ity. The first step toward pantheism is infidelity. The 
first step toward deism is infidelity. The moment you 
can break down that word in one place and make out 
that it is not true, then, of course, the whole word goes. 
Now, you ask an infidel if he really believes in the Bible, 
and he says, "Well, I believe part of it. I believe all 
that corresponds with my reason, but I don't believe any- 
thing supernatural. I don't believe anything I can't rea- 
son out. " 

Now, if a man takes that ground, he might as well 
throw away the whole Bible, and go over to atheism at 
one leap. He need not be weeks and months going, 
because that is where it is going to bring him. If you 
take out of that book all that is supernatural, you might 
as well take out the whole of it. From beginning to 
end it is a supernatural book. Look into Genesis. You 
ask an infidel if he believes in the flood. No, sir; not he. 
Then throw out Genesis; because, if the man who wrote 
Genesis put in one lie, why is not the whole of it a lie? 
If he did, he must have known it was a fraud when he 
wrote it, so that condemns Genesis. You ask a man if 
he believes the story of the Red sea, about bringing the 
children of Israel through the Red sea. Not he. That 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 1 25 

is contrary to reason, contrary to man's intellect. Out 
goes Exodus. That throws out the decalogue, throws 
out the commandments. It all goes together. If the 
man who wrote Exodus told a lie in the beginning of 
Exodus, and that the children never went through the 
Red sea, then away goes the whole book. 

Then take up Leviticus. It is said in Leviticus if we 
will do so-and-so, He will come down and walk with us, 
would be among His people, and the shout of the king is 
heard in the camp. "Do you believe that?" "No, 
sir," the infidel says, "I don't believe anything of that 
kind." Out goes Leviticus. Throw it all out. 

Do you believe God told Moses to make a brazen ser- 
pent, and that all the bitten Israelites that looked upon it 
shall live? The skeptic turns up his nose, and says with 
a good deal of contempt, " No, you don't think I am fool 
enough to believe that?" Out goes the whole book of 
Numbers; throw it out, because if the man that wrote 
that book put that lie in, the whole of it is a lie. You 
just prove that I tell a willful lie here to-night, and my 
whole sermon is gone. You go into court and testify to 
a lie, and let it be proven that you have told a wilful lie 
(and untrue in one thing, untrue in all), out goes your 
testimony. The jury won't take it. Now, if the man 
that wrote the book of Numbers put down that lie, if he 
never did make a brazen serpent for the children of 
Israel, then the whole book of Numbers is gone. Throw 
it out. Then we come to Deuteronomy. Do you be- 
lieve Moses went up into the mountain, and his natural 
force was not abated, his eye had not grown dim, and 
he died there, and God buried him; God kissed away his 
soul, as some one has said? The infidel says, "I don't 



126 Moody's sermons. 

believe one word of it; that is supernatural; that is 
against reason. " Then throw out the whole of Deuter- 
onomy. There go the first five books of Moses. 

Then go into Joshua. " Do you believe Joshua took 
Jericho by going around Jericho blowing rams' horns? " 
" Don't believe a word of it." Tear it to pieces. Throw 
it away. Out it goes. If the writer of that book would 
tell a lie like that at the beginning of the book, he lied 
all through it, why not? That is what an infidel is — one 
who does not believe in supernatural things. 

" Do you believe that Samson took the jaw-bone of 
an ass, and slew a thousand men? " " No, I don't believe 
it." Out goes the book. Because from the beginning 
of Judges to the end, it is all supernatural. 

' ' Do you believe God called Samuel when he was a 
little boy — that God called him?" " Why, no," says the 
infidel, ' ' I don't believe anything that is contrary to my 
reason. I don't believe anything supernatural." Out 
go the two books of Samuel. 

' ' Do you believe that David went out and met Goliath, 
and slew him?" "No, I don't believe it." Out go 
the two books of Kings. And so I can go on through 
the whole Bible. Take out the supernatural in it, and 
you have to throw away the whole Bible. You can't 
touch Jesus Christ from His birth until He went up into 
glory, but what He was supernatural. The work that is 
going on now is supernatural. Things are happening 
every day that are supernatural. Every man that is born 
of the Holy Ghost, born of God; it is supernatural. Yet 
an infidel will stand right up and tell you to-day, that he 
will not believe a thing in that book that don't corre- 
spond to his reason; therefore the infidels are just tear- 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 1 27 

ing the Bible all to pieces. That is where we are drift- 
ing to. " Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies 
themselves being judges." 

Now, I would like to ask the infidels what earthly motive 
could the early Christianas have had in writing that book? 
What motive could Jesus Christ have had in coming* 
down here and living such a life as He led? Some of 
you accuse us of working for gain. You say that we are 
after your money, and that we don't care anything about 
your soul. You cannot accuse our Master of that, can 
you? He didn't carry off much money, did He? His 
cradle was a borrowed one. The only time that He 
rode into Jerusalem that we have recorded, He rode in 
on a colt, the foal of an ass. It would be a strange sight 
to see Him coming into this city in that way. You 
would not own Him. And He did not own this beast. 
It was a borrowed beast. It was a borrowed guest 
chamber in which He instituted His supper. It was a 
borrowed grave in which they laid Him. He that was 
rich became poor for our sakes. What motive could He 
have had in coming down here if He had not been true 
and real, if He had been an impostor, a hypocrite, com- 
ing down here and teaching us a falsehood? If Jesus 
Christ was not God manifest in the flesh, He was the 
greatest impostor that ever came into this world, and 
every Christian throughout Christendom to-day, is guilty 
of idolatry, of breaking the first commandment, " Thou 
shalt have no other god before Me." He comes and 
says unto the world, " Come unto Me, and I will give 
you rest." Elijah never said that; Moses never said that; 
no man that ever trod this earth dared to have said it; 
and if Jesus Christ had not been divine as well as hu- 



128 Moody's sermons. 

man, it would have been blasphemy, and the Jews ought 
to have put Him to death. They had a right by the 
Jewish law to put Him to death. He an impostor? He 
a deceiver? He a fraud? Away with such doctrine! And 
yet people will stand right up here in this community, 
and tell you it is all a fiction about His conception by 
the Holy Ghost, and at the same time they will stand 
right up and say they are Christians. They don't like 
that word infidel. They say they are no infidels. But, 
ah, my friends, if we break down the testimony of Jesus 
Christ, and make Him out a fraud and deceiver, it all 
goes. 

Now, when people tell me that that book is not to be 
relied upon, I tell them that I will throw it away when 
they will bring me a better one. I am ready to throw it. 
away to-night, if you will bring me a better one. But 
where is there any book to be compared with it? Bring 
H on, will you! When you bring on a better man than 
Jesus Christ, I will follow Him. But don't ask me to 
follow these skeptics and infidels down here, who are 
trying to tear down the works of Jesus Christ when they 
have no better to leave in their place. 

Now, Jesus Christ, was without spot or blemish, You 
can find no fault with Him or in Him. We don't want 
to follow any one else until we can find a better man. If 
these men that are scoffing and sneering at Christ will 
bring on a better man, we will follow him. If they will 
bring on a better book, we will take it. But until they 
do, let us cling to the Bible, and defend it, and stand by 
it, and let us stand by Jesus Christ, and let us defend 
Him. 

Infidelity takes everything away from us, and gives us 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 129 

nothing in return. When Lord Chesterfield went to 
Paris, he was invited out to dine with Voltaire, the lead- 
ing infidel of that day. Lord Chesterfield was a Christ- 
ian man. A lady, at the table, when they were at dinner, 
said, ' ' Lord Chesterfield, I am told that you have in 
your English parliament five or six hundred of the lead- 
ing men of thought in the nation." Well, he said he be- 
lieved that was so. She said, ''Then why is it that 
those wise men tolerate Christianity?" Well, he said 
he supposed because they could not get anything better 
to take its place. 

Do you ever stop to think what you would put in the 
place of Christianity? It is easy enough to tear down, 
or at least try to tear down. There are some people that 
spend all their lives in trying to tear down things that are 
good, but they give us nothing in the place of them. 
Now, the trouble with infidelity is it gives us nothing in 
the place of what we have got. The Bible holds out a 
hope to man. It holds out something that is beyond this 
life, and gives him hope. Infidelity gives him no hope. 
It tears down all the hope he has got. He has got nothing 
to build on. If this book fails, what have we got? Now, 
just think a moment. Take the Bible away from us, 
and what have we got? I would like to say to the people 
here to-night, if you step into a church (for I am sorry 
to say some of these infidels have got into the pulpit), 
if you step into a church and hear a man talking about 
Jesus Christ not being divine, if you take my advice, you 
will get out of that church as quick as you can get out. 
But you say, " My father and mother belong to that 
church." Suppose they do. You get out, as Lot got 
out of Sodom. Make haste. You think a man who 



130 MOODY S SERMONS. 

would sell you poison, and kill your children is a horrid 
man; but I tell you a man who would plant infidelity in 
the mind of my child is worse than a man who gives it 
poison; by him their young minds are poisoned, and 
infidelity taught them under the garb of Christ and 
Christianity; and yet there are some men who profess to 
be friends of that book who are all the time trying to 
tear it to pieces, and make out that it is not written by 
inspiration; that it is not from God, and that it cannot 
speak with authority. 

Now, to show that ' ' Their rock is not as our rock, even 
our enemies themselves being judges," I want to tell you 
a thing that happened some time ago. I was in the room 
with a man, and he said he wanted to have a talk with 
me, " But," he says, " I wish you would let that man go 
out." " O, " I said, "he is here to take care of the 
things." We had some of our things in the cloak-room 
back of the platform, and he was there so that no thief 
should come in and steal what we had. And this man 
said, " I would like to have him go out." "Well," I 
said, " he belongs here. I will ask him to go out if you 
insist upon it, but," says I, " I will talk at this end of the 
room." "Well," he said, " I would like to have him go 
out." I spoke to the man, and asked him to leave the 
room, and he hadn't more than got out before he opened 
his lips, and such a tirade against Christianity! I said 
to him, ' ' My friend, why did you want that man to go 
out?" " Well," he said, " I though it might hurt him." 
I said, " If it is good for you, why is it not good for him?" 
"Well," he said, "he did not like to have his children 
know his views." He said his wife was a Christian, 
and he wanted his children brought up differently. 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 131 

" Their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies them- 
selves being judges." I want my children to believe as I 
believe. I want them to be taught to love and fear and 
honor God. If these infidels think infidelity is good for 
them, why is it they don't want it taught to their chil- 
dren? Why is it that so many infidels want their children 
to be taught the Lord's prayer? 

Very often when I have been in an infidel's house he 
has wanted his wife and children to leave the room, and 
then he has gone on, and talked his infidelity. "Their 
rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves 
being judges." That proves it. 

A man ordered his servant out of his dining-room, and 
after his servant went out, he began to talk his atheism 
to a Christian man that was there. The Christian man 
said to him, "Why did you order out your servant?" 
"Well," said he, "I'm afraid if he held my views he 
might cut my throat some time, for my money." 

You laugh at it, but if there is no God, why not? If 
there is no hereafter, why not? If this country is as bad 
as it is with all the religion we have got, what would it 
be without it? Let this country go over to infidelity; 
what would become of the nation? It was not a great 
many years ago that, in a convention, at Lyons, in 
France, they voted that the Bible was a fiction, that it 
was not true, and that there was no God; that there was 
no hereafter; that death was an eternal sleep; and it was 
not very long before blood flowed very freely in France. 
And you let atheism, and pantheism, and deism, and in- 
fidelity go stalking through this land, and life and prop- 
erty won't be safe. You know it very well. 

Lord Lyttleton and Gilbert West were going to expose 



132 MOODY S SERMONS. 

the fraud of Christianity. One was going to take up the 
resurrection and expose that. The other was going to 
take up Saul's conversion and expose that. And they 
went about it; went to studying up those two facts. The 
result was they were both converted. The testimony 
was perfectly overwhelming. If a man will look at the 
testimony, I can't see for the life of me how he can doubt 
these are facts. What did Paul have to gain by his con- 
version? Would you call such a man as Paul a fraud? 
What did he give up for the gospel's sake? Reputation, 
position, standing, everything he had. What did he get 
in return? Hunger, persecution, prison, stocks, stripes 
and death. He died the death of a common criminal. 
He died at Rome, as a poor and miserable outcast in the 
sight of the world. What earthly motive could he have 
had, if these things are not true? Why, we have all the 
proof that any man could ask for, that Jesus Christ rose 
from the dead. He was seen ten different times, and 
was here among us forty days, and then He was seen by 
the holiest and best men on earth at that time ascend 
and go up into heaven. They went and looked into the 
sepulcher and found it was empty. There was no doubt 
about His body coming out of the grave. Some men 
say they believe in Christianity, but they don't believe 
Christ's body came up. Do you think they could have 
stolen that body and palmed that fraud off on the world 
for these eighteen hundred years? Do you think those 
keen Jews of Jerusalem would never have found out the 
fraud and deception? Away with such a delusion! Christ 
rose; He burst asunder the bands of death. He has 
come out of the sepulcher and passed into the heavens, 
and taken His seat at the right hand of God. We don't 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 133 

worship a dead Savior. Our Christ lives. He is on the 
throne to-night. Let us look up, for the time of our re- 
demption is nigh. Let us gird up our loins afresh. Let 
us buckle on the whole armor, and fight for Christ. Let 
us hold to the faith. Let us not be influenced by the 
infidelity around us, but let it drive us to the Bible. Let 
us cling to this good old book. It will be darker than 
midnight ere long if we let our confidence go in that 
book. I saw an account some time ago of an infidel who 
was dying. So many infidels recant when they die! Did 
you ever hear of a Christian recanting? I never did. 
Did you ever hear of a Christian dying that was sorry 
that he had served the Lord Jesus Christ? I never did. 
I have heard of a good many that regretted that they had 
not served Him a good deal better than they had; that 
they had not lived more like Him. The infidel friends 
•of this infidel gathered around him. They were afraid 
he was going to recant, and if he did, the Christians 
would make capital out of it. They gathered around 
him and said, "Hold on, hold on to your principles; 
don't give it up now." The poor, dying man said, 
"What have I got to hold on to?" You answer the 
question, will you? What has an infidel got to hold 
on to? 

Some time ago, I was drawing a contrast between the 
end of that talented man, Lord Byron, and Paul. Byron 
died at the early age of thirty-six. The time allotted 
to man is threescore years and ten. 

A fast life, a life of dissipation, carried him off carl}". 
These are about the last lines he penned: 

" My days are in the yellow leaf, 

The flower and the fruit of life are gone; 
The worm, the canker and the grave, 
Are mine alone." 



134 Moody's sermons. 

That is all he had at the close of life. But look at 
Paul's farewell. He writes to Timothy, " I have fought 
the good fight. I have kept the faith; henceforth there 
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness." There is a 
good deal of difference between the death of a skeptic 
and an infidel and the death of the righteous. " Their 
rock is not as our rock, they themselves being judges." 
How often you have heard men say, " I wish I could be- 
lieve as you do." What do they want to believe as we 
do for, if they are satisfied with their rock? " I wish I 
had your hope." What do you want our hope for if you 
are satisfied with your rock? " O, I wish I had the as- 
surance you have." What do you want our assurance 
for if you are satisfied with your rock? The fact is, 
" Their rock is not as our rock, our enemies being 
judges." We will bring them in as witnesses and let 
them testify. Let us, my friends, hold on to the word 
of God. When these skeptics and infidels talk against 
the book, let us love it all the more. Let it drive us to 
the word. Let us say we will give up life rather than 
that book. We will hold on to that, let it cost us what 
it will. The world may call us fanatics and fools, and all 
that, but they cannot give us any worse name than they 
gave the Master. They called Him Beelzebub, the 
Prince of Devils, and we can afford to be called fools for 
Christ's sake for a little while, and by-and-by we will be 
called home, and, if we will hold right on, the end will 
be glorious. 

A soldier, during the war, got up in one of our meet- 
ings in Chicago. He had just come from the battle of 
Perryville. He said bis brother came home one day and 
said he had enlisted. He went down to the recruiting 



THEIR ROCK IS NOT OUR ROCK. 135 

officer and put his name next to his brother's; there was 
no name between them; he said they had never been 
separated one day in their lives, and he said he did not 
mean to have his brother go into the army without him. 
He said they went into the army, and they went into a 
good many battles together. The terrible battle of Perry- 
ville came on. About ten o'clock in the morning his 
brother was mortally wounded. A minie ball passed 
through his lungs. He fell by his side, put his knapsack 
under the head of his dying brother, pillowed his head, 
and made him as comfortable as he could; bent over and 
kissed him, and started away. The dying man says, 
"• Charlie, come back here. Let me kiss you upon your 
lips." He came back, and his brother kissed him on the 
lips and said, ' ' There, take that home to my dear mother, 
and tell her that I died praying for her." And he said 
as he turned away, and his brother was wallowing in his 
blood, and the battle was raging all around him, he heard 
him say, ' ' This is glorious. " He turned around and 
Went back, and said, ' ' My brother, what is glorious? '' 
"O," he said, "it is glorious to die looking up. I see 
Christ in heaven." 

It is glorious to die looking up. But if we die looking 
up, we have got to live looking up. We have got to 
live trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. O, in this dark 
day of infidelity, when it is coming up all around, let us 
hold on to the glorious old Bible, and to the blessed 
teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. 



TEKEL. 

" Tekel." — Daniel, v, 25. 

I want to have you get the text to-night. It is so 
short I am quite sure you that have short memories can 
carry it away with you, if you will just listen to it; and 
if some one asks you after the meeting is over, I hope 
you will be able to give my text and the meaning of it. 

In this short chapter of thirty-one verses we get all 
we know about Belshazzar. His history was very brief. 
We are told that he had a feast of his lords; he had a 
thousand of his noblemen, his lords, his mighty men, 
gathered there at Babylon. How long that feast lasted 
we are not told. Sometimes those eastern feasts used 
to last for six months. We are told that this young king 
was praising the gods of gold, of silver, of brass, of iron, 
of wood, and of stone; and all at once silence reigns in 
that banqueting hall. The king had sent out into the 
heathen temple, and had had the golden vessels that had 
been taken by his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, that 
had been brought down from Jerusalem, brought into 
that impious feast, and while they were rioting and 
drinking and carousing, judgment came suddenly and 
unexpectedly. And I think if you will read the word 
of God carefully, you will find that judgment always 
comes suddenly and unexpectedly. While that feast is 

136 




Belshazzar's Feast. Daniel, v. 



TEKEL. I 39 

going on, and all is merry, over on the wall, over the 
golden candle-sticks, is seen a hand, and there is a finger 
writing the doom of that king. He sends for the wise 
men of Babylon to come in and read that writing. He 
offers the man that can read the writing shall be clothed 
in fine linen, and in purple; he shall have a golden chain 
around his neck, and shall be made the third ruler in the 
realm. Those wise men tried to read it, but they were 
not acquainted with God's handwriting. That is the 
reason these skeptics and infidels don't , understand the 
Bible; they don't know God's handwriting. With all 
the wisdom of the Chaldeans, they could not make out 
that handwriting. They failed, utterly failed. The 
king and all his lords were astonished. They never had 
seen it on that fashion before. It was a strange hand- 
writing. The queen comes in, and she tells the mon- 
arch that there is a man in his kingdom; he has not 
been heard of for fifteen years; where he has been we 
are not told; but she tells Belshazzar that when Neb- 
uchadnezzar reigned, and the wise men failed to tell him 
his dream and the interpretation, there was a man by the 
name of Daniel that could tell the king his dream and 
the interpretation, and if Belshazzar should send for this 
prophet, he might be able to read that handwriting on the 
wall. Daniel is sent for, and the king says to him, " If 
you read that handwriting and tell me what it is, I 
will give you great gifts, and [ will make you the third 
ruler in the realm." When that prophet looks up there, 
you can imagine how silence reigns through that audi- 
ence. Every eye is upon him. The king looks at him, 
and as he makes this offer to the prophet, the prophet 
says, ' ' Let your gifts be to others, but I will read to you 



I40 MOODY S SERMONS. 

the handwriting." He knew his God's writing. It was 
very familiar to him, and without any difficulty he can 
read, " Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin." "What does it 
mean?" cries the king. "Mene, mene, ' Thy kingdom 
is numbered and finished.' Tekel, 'Thou art weighed in 
the balances, and art found wanting.' Upharsin, 'Thy 
kingdom is divided, and given to the Medes and Per- 
sians.'" And that night Belshazzar's blood flowed with 
the wine in his banquet hall. That very night they 
could hear Cyrus coming with his army up through the 
streets of Babylon. He turned the Euphrates out of its 
channel and brought his army under the walls of the 
city, and that very night Belshazzar's army was de- 
feated, the men around the royal palace were driven 
back, Belshazzar was slain, and Darius took the throne. 

But it is not my object to-night to talk about that 
king that reigned twenty-five hundred years ago. I don't 
want to take you back that far. I want to get down to 
this city if I can. I want to get into this audience to- 
night, and I want to ask every man and woman in this 
assembly, if you should be summoned into eternity at 
this hour, or at the midnight hour, what should be said? 
' ' Thou art weighed in the balances and art found want- 
ing." 

The other night I preached from the text, "There is 
no difference," and I tried to measure men by the law. 
To-night I propose to weigh them by the law. We find 
here this illustration of the balances used by God him- 
self. Tekel means, " Thou art weighed in the balances 
and art found wanting." Let us imagine there were 
scales let down into this building, not of our making; 
God is going to weigh us; we are not going to weigh 



TEKEL. I4I 

ourselves. The great trouble with men is they are try- 
ing to weigh themselves all the while, and they are 
making balances of their own. When we are weighed, 
we are to be weighed in God's balances, not man's. 
The God who created us is going to weigh us. Let us 
imagine that the scales are fastened by a golden chain to 
the throne of God, who sits yonder in the heavens, a 
God of equity, a God of justice; and those balances come 
down to-night into this building, and here they are right 
before us, and every man, woman and child in this as- 
sembly has to be weighed. Now, the question is, are 
you ready to be weighed? A man begins to look around 
to his neighbors and other people, and says, ' ' Yes, I am 
ready to be weighed. I am as good as the average." 
But that is not the way to look at it. What we want is 
to look at the law. We are to be weighed by the law 
of God. The God that created us has given us a law, 
and among all the skeptics and infidels that I have met, 
I have not found any that complained of that law. The 
trouble is not with the law. The trouble is with our- 
selves. 

Now, I have to-night some weights. You know when 
you go into a store to buy goods they take weights and 
weigh out your goods. Now, I have ten weights. I am 
going to put them in the balances, and I want this audi- 
ence to come up and get in. As I put the weights in on 
one side, you come up and get in on the other side and 
see if you are ready to be weighed by the law of God. 

We will now put in the first weight, ' ' Thou shalt have 
no other gods before me." People who live in America 
think there is no such thing as idolatry. They think 
they have to go off into China, Japan or some heathen 



142 Moody's sermons. 

country to find idols. Don't flatter yourselves. We have 
idols in America. You have not got to go far from this 
city to find them. You will find a thousand idolaters, I 
was going to say, where you find one true Christian that 
worships the God of the Bible. Anything that a man 
thinks more of than he does of God is his idol. A man 
may make an idol of his wealth. A man may make an 
idol of his wife or his children. A man may make an 
idol of himself; a good many do that. They think more 
of themselves than of anything else in the wide world. 
They worship themselves. They revere themselves. 
They honor themselves. Self is at the bottom and top 
of everything they do. Then there are a good many that 
worship the god of pleasure. Look at your young men 
to-day, and your young ladies that bow down to the god 
of pleasure. ''Give me a night in the ball-room, and 
you may have heaven with all its glories. What do I 
care? Give me a night that will satisfy me in this world, 
and I care nothing about the world to come." There are 
a good many gods. It would take all night to enumerate 
the gods you have got here in this city. There are a 
good many that bow down to that god of gold, that 
golden calf we read of in Aaron's day. * ' Give me money, '' 
is the cry of the world. " You may have the Bible with 
all its offers of mercy and heaven. You ma) 7 have every- 
thing else if you will only give me money, and give me a 
nice house up here on your avenue, and a good turnout 
and all the money I want. That is all I ask for. I will 
just be willing to trample the Bible, and all its com- 
mandments, and all its offers of mercy under my feet. 
That is my god. " ' • Thou shalt have no other gods before 
Me." 



TEKEL. 143 

Now, what is your god to-night? What do you think 
most of to-night? O, that the spirit of God may wake 
us up to-night! If we are trusting any idol, if we have 
some idol in our heart, may God tear it from us, because 
God says, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me." 
The sin of idolatry is one of the worst of sins. In that 
book there is more said against idolatry, perhaps, than 
any other sin. God will have the first place or none. 
Yet there are a great many men trying to give God the 
second place. They say, "Business has got to be at- 
tended to, I have got to attend to business, and if I have 
a little time after attending to business, I will attend to 
my soul's wants." Instead of giving the soul the first 
place, they give the body and this life the first place. We 
take a good deal better care of our bodies than we do of 
our souls. You know that very well. Most people 
think a great deal more of this life than of the life to 
come. They think a great deal more of the gods around 
them than of the God of the Bible, and the God of 
heaven. 

The next weight is very much like it. We will put 
that weight right in the balances, ' ' Thou shalt not bow 
down thyself to any graven image, or any likeness of 
anything that is in heaven above or that is in the earth 
beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." "Thou 
shalt not bow down to any image." I am not to even 
worship any cross or crucifix. I am not to bow down to 
anything but the God of heaven. I am not to worship 
any pictures, even if they are pictures of Jesus Christ, 
not any graven image. I think it is a great mistake that 
artists try to make pictures of the God of heaven and 
earth. It is a fearful thing. We are not to make any 



144 MOODY S SERMONS. 

graven image of anything and then bow down to it. 

But I must pass on rapidly. " Thou shalt not take 
the name of the Lord thy God in vain." Blasphemers, 
come on now and be weighed. We will put that in the 
balances. You step in and see how quick you will go 
up; how quick the balance will kick the beam. If every 
blasphemer in this house was to be weighed to-night, 
what would become of his soul? 

" Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God 
in vain." It is astonishing to hear men blaspheme and 
curse God, and when you talk to them they say, " I don't 
mean anything by it. " Well, God means a good deal 
when He says He "will not hold him guiltless that 
taketh His name in vain." 

Do you know that profanity is just man's showing his 
enmity to God? If God hadn't told man not to swear, I 
don't think He Would have thought of it; but just be- 
cause God has said, "Thou shalt not swear," he wants 
to show his contempt of God by trampling His com- 
mandment under foot, and spurning the grace of God. 
They say they can't help it. Yet these very men, when 
their mother is around, seldom if ever swear. That, 
shows they have more respect for their mother than they 
have for the God of heaven. If the wife happens to be 
around, or the children very often, they will not swear. 
Yet they will curse God, and swear to God's face, chal- 
lenge God, as it were, to do His worst, and blaspheme. 
Yet when you talk to them about it they say, "O, well; 
I can't help it." It is false. Man may not of his own 
strength be able to turn from that sin, but God will give 
him grace. If a man has a new heart, he will have no 
desire to swear. 



TEKEL. 145 

If a man is born of God he will not want to take God's 
name in vain. Let the blasphemers in this house to-night 
remember that God is not going to "hold him guiltless 
that taketh His name in vain." If every blasphemer in 
this assembly should be cut down to-night with cursing 
and blasphemy upon his conscience and upon his heart, 
what would become of his soul? It is a fearful thing. 
You look upon a thief as a horrid monster, many of you, 
and you think he is a curse to the community, but is it 
not as bad to break God's laws as to break the laws of 
the state? You elect men to your legislature to make 
laws for you, and you think the laws which they make 
ought to be revered and honored more than the laws of 
high heaven. Here is a law from heaven, and that law 
says, ' ' Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain." Man shows contempt for God and his 
laws, and goes on blaspheming. 

The next weight we will put in the balances is, " Re- 
member the Sabbath day to keep it holy. " As it looks 
to me, we are drifting into a dark age. We thought 
when we had slavery in this country that it was a great 
curse to the land; but we have something worse to-day. 
If this nation gives up its Sabbath, we are not going to 
see blood flow in a few southern states, but it will not 
be long before it will flow in all our cities; it won't be 
long before we will see a darker day than this nation 
has ever seen. No republic can exist without righteous- 
ness. If men are going to violate the law of God, if you 
teach men to break God's law, how long will it be before 
they will take the laws of man in their hands and tear 
them, as it were, to pieces and throw them to the winds, 
and trample them under their feet? 

We have to teach men to honor God's law if we expect 



146 

them to honor the law of man. We see this desecration 
of the Sabbath increasing every year, giving up a little 
here and giving up a little there. A few years ago in 
Chicago we did not have a theater open on the Sabbath, 
but now every theater is open. Every Sunday night 
those theaters are crowded. I want to say to the work- 
ingmen, if you give up the Sabbath, you give up the 
best friend you've got, and it will not be long before 
these capitalists will take your Sabbath, and make you 
work seven days in the week, and you will not earn a dol- 
lar more than you do now in six days. God is our 
friend; He would not have given us one day in seven un- 
less it was for our good. Man needs it, beast needs it. 
So let us honor the Sabbath day and keep it holy. If 
we have to give up our business and get some other busi- 
ness, let us do it, even if we don't make quite so much 
money. It is a good deal better for us to be right, to 
know we are honoring God, and to have God on our 
side, than it is to be breaking God's law. If a father 
teaches his .child not to observe the Sabbath, takes him 
out riding on Sunday, teaches him not to go to the house 
of God, it will not be long before that boy will break his 
father's commandments. You teach him to dishonor 
God's law, and he will dishonor yours. Is not that so? 
Does history not teach you that? Look around you. 
Have you got to go to the Bible to find that out? Is it 
not so? You take a man that goes around on the Sab- 
bath, who don't teach his boy to go to Sabbath-school 
and to church, but teaches him to play marbles, and it 
will not be long before that boy will break that father's 
heart, if he has a heart. 

Throw this commandment into the balances, and, Sab- 



TEKEL. 147 

bath-breaker, step in. If you do, what will become of 
you? You would find written on the wall, "Tekel. 
Thou are weighed in the balances and art found want- 
ing." If a man cannot keep one day out of seven, what 
is he going to do with that eternal Sabbath in heaven? 
He will not want to go there. Heaven would be hell to 
him. 

I must pass on. " Honor thy father and thy mother." 
That is another thing that shows we are drifting into a 
dark age. Men seem to be void of natural affection. 
Now, I want to call your attention to this fact. Wherever 
you see a young man or young lady treating their parents 
with scorn and contempt, you may just mark that they 
will never prosper. I am not an old man, and I am not 
a prophet, but I have lived long enough to notice that I 
have yet to find the first case where a young man or 
young lady has started out in life that has dishonored 
father and mother, that has treated them with scorn and 
contempt, that has ever prospered. I believe to-day one 
reason why so many men's ways are hedged up, and they 
do not prosper, is because they have dishonored their 
parents. I do not know of anything that is more con- 
temptible. I do not know of anything that sinks a man 
lower in my estimation, than to hear him speak disre- 
spectfully of his father and mother, that cared for him 
in his childhood, that watched over him in sickness, and 
did everything they could for him. 

A young man that will go out and get drunk and come 
home at midnight, or one or two o'clock in the morning, 
knowing his gray-haired mother is sitting up for him and 
weeping, is crushing that mother, just breaking her heart, 
just murdering her by degrees. I do not know why it is 



14B Moody's sermons. 

not just as bad to murder your father and mother, break 
their hearts and take months to do it, and to kill them, 
as it is to take a revolver and shoot them down at once. 
There are hundreds of young men doing that to-day. You 
haven't got to go out of this city to find them. I ven- 
ture to say while I am talking here to-night some young 
man is in a brothel, or in some saloon or billiard hall, 
who will go home to-night or to-morrow morning beastly 
drunk, and curse the mother that gave him birth, and 
curse her gray hairs, and perhaps lift up that great strong 
arm of his and beat that mother. Or some husband will 
go and be untrue to some wife, and go home, and if she 
says a word, down comes that right arm upon her. Yes, 
it is only one, two or three murderers we have perhaps 
in jail at a time, but how many walk the streets of this 
city to-day? I tell you, a young man that don't honor his 
father and mother need not expect to prosper in this 
life, or in the life to come. 

There was a young man who used to think considera- 
ble of his parents. He was a very fine looking youug 
man. His father was a great drunkard, and his mother 
used to take in washing just to give that boy an educa- 
tion. She kept him at school and worked hard to do it; 
but one day he was out on the sidewalk talking with his 
mother. She had been washing, and was not dressed 
as well as some ladies. He saw a school-mate coming 
toward him, and he walked away from that mother. The 
school-mate asked him who that woman was he was talk- 
ing to, and he said it was his washerwoman. Ashamed to 
own his own mother! You laugh, young lady. Shame on 
such a man as that. I think we ought to be ashamed of 
a man that would speak that way of a mother who is 



TEKEL. 149 

toiling day and night to give him an education. " Honor 
thy father and thy mother." Treat them kindly; you 
will not always have them. By-and-by they will be 
gone. No one in the wide world loves you like that 
mother. No one in the wide world loves you like that 
father. Treat them kindly. Make the evening of their 
lives as sweet as you can. It will come back again. You 
will have children by-and-by, perhaps, and they will treat 
you kindly. But bear in mind, if you treat that father 
and mother with scorn and contempt, by-and-by, after a 
few years have rolled around, you will be paid back in 
your own coin. ' ' Be not deceived. God is not mocked. 
Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap." The 
reaping is coming, and men have to reap the same seed 
that they sow. 

You treat that aged mother of yours with scorn and 
contempt and expect God to smile on you and prosper 
you, and you will be deceived. 

If there is a man or woman in this audience to-night 
that is not treating father or mother with respect or 
kindness, let him step into the balances and see how 
quick they will strike the beam. You will be found 
lighter than dust in the balances. You will find that 
word " Tekel" blazing out. " Thou art weighed in the 
balances and art found wanting." 

But I must pass on.. " Thou shalt not kill." I sup- 
pose if you had said a few months ago to some of those 
men that have been killing lately that they were going to 
come to that, they would have said, " Am I a dog that 
I should do it?" They thought they would not; but 
when Satan takes possession of a man, you don't know 
what he will do; you can't tell. When a man goes on 



I 50 MOODY S SERMONS. 

step by step from one thing to another, it will not be 
long before he will be guilty of almost any crime. I have 
not got to kill a man to be a murderer. If I wish a man 
dead, I am a murderer at heart. That is murder. If I 
get so angry with a man that I wish him dead, I am 
guilty in the sight of God. God looks at the heart, not 
at the outward man. We only look at the acts of men, 
but God looks down in the hearts. If I have murder in 
my heart, if I wish a man or woman dead, I am guilty. 
"Thou shalt not kill." As I said before, there area 
good many men who are not looked upon as murderers, 
that really kill their parents, kill their children, kill their 
wives. How many drunken men have murdered their 
wives! They have literally killed them inch by inch. 
They have gone to the altar and sworn before the God 
of heaven they would love, cherish, protect and support 
that woman, and inside of five years they have become 
horrid monsters, and beaten that defenseless woman, 
until at last she has gone with a broken heart into the 
grave. Nothing but a cruel husband murdered that wom- 
an. "Thou shalt not kill." Do you think a God of 
judgment, a God of equity, a God of mercy will not bring 
those men into judgment? 

But I must pass on. We will put those six weights 
right up there, and come to the next. I would pass over 
this commandment if I dared, but when I see what the 
enemy is doing, when I see the terrible, terrible state of 
things we are having all around, in all kinds of society, 
high and low, I feel that I must cry out and spare not. 
"Thou shalt not commit adultery." It is a sin that is 
not much spoken of. It is one of those things that we 
like to pass over. We hear a good deal about intemper- 



TEKEL. 151 

ance, but the twin sister of intemperance is adultery to- 
day. I want to read to you something that will express 
what I want to say, perhaps, better than I can myself, 
the seventh chapter of Proverbs. 

I want to say to the young people in this audience to- 
night, I do not know of a quicker way to ruin, I do not 
know of a quicker way down to hell than the way of the 
adulterer. Do you know that the average life of a fallen 
woman is only seven years? It is very short. How a 
woman can surrender her virtue and take that road is 
one of the greatest mysteries of the present day, when 
they can look around and see how they have brought 
ruin and blight upon their life, and made it dark and 
bitter. 

Not long ago a scene occurred in Chicago of a mother 
that left her family in Iowa and a man that left his, and 
they came to Chicago, and after getting tired and sick of 
their life, and remorse, I suppose, seized hold of him, at 
the hotel where they were, he cut her throat from ear to 
ear, and as she fled from him into the hall, he cut his 
own from ear to ear, and fled into the hall and embraced 
her, and the adulterer and adulteress died in each other's 
arms. What a fearful ending! That is occurring all the 
while from one end of the land to the other. "Thou 
shalt not commit adultery! " And I want to say to these 
libertines, these men that think they can commit that 
sin and cover it up, and think it never will come to light; 
some of them come to our public meetings; some of 
them come into our churches, and they sweep down the 
broad aisle, perhaps, with their wives upon their arms. 
They take the best seats, perhaps, in our churches, and 
they think the crime is covered up. Be not deceived. 



152 Moody's sermons. 

You ruin some man's daughter, and some vile wretch 
will ruin yours. You will find it out by-and-by. 

Do you think that God is not going to bring men to 
judgment for this thing? Do you think that men can go 
on, and that they can get clear, and the women be cast 
out? They say the thing is unequal. Well, it may be 
among men, but bear in mind there is a God of equity 
sitting in the heavens, and this thing is going to become 
straight by-and-by. Not that the women are excused; 
one is as bad as the other. It is a sin, and it is a fearful 
sin. It is a sin we must cry out against at the present 
time. Don't let any adulterer or adulteress think he or 
she is going into the kingdom of God. And I want to 
say to the men here to-night, if you are bound to some 
fallen woman, if you are to-night guilty of that awful sin, 
give it up or give up heaven. If God should summon 
you into those balances to-night, what would become of 
you, vile adulterer, what would become of you? And 
you, poor, fallen woman! you step in and see what would 
become of your soul. " Thou shalt not commit adultery." 

I want to say once more, before I pass this command- 
ment, that people may cavil and laugh and make light of 
it, as they do; but it is one of the greatest evils of the 
present day. Many a man's life is ruined, many a family 
has been broken up, and many a mother has gone down 
to her grave with a broken heart, because a son or a 
daughter has been ruined. It is time that the church 
of God should send up one cry that our children should 
be kept. It is a day of temptation. It is a day of trial 
on our right hand and on our left. We are living in a 
day of decayed consciences, as some one has said. Men 
are losing their consciences. It is astonishing how a man 



TEKEL. 153 

can talk. I got a letter from a man to-day, the first letter 
I got to-day. He stated he was living this kind of a life, 
and he seems to have no conscience about it, and he 
wanted to have me pray that they may be separated, and 
he says if there is a God they will be separated. He 
doubts whether or not there is a God. Men get so 
steeped in sin that they want to stifle conscience, they 
want to deceive themselves, and they begin to reason 
that there is no God at all. You will find out by-and-by 
there is a God. Bear in mind, God will bring you into 
judgment by-and-by. Because sentence is not executed 
at once is no sign He is not going to execute the sentence. 
Because God don't bring men to judgment at once is no 
sign He will not come to judgment. He will come. 
Paul reasoned with Felix, ' ' Of righteousness, temper- 
ance and judgment to come. " God has appointed a day 
when He will judge the world. Men may cavil and 
laugh as much as they like, but the day is appointed, the 
hour is fixed, and men have got to come to judgment, 
and then sins which you have committed in secret, and 
which you think are covered up, will come to light and 
be made public, unless they are covered by the blood of 
Christ; unless you repent and turn from them and ask 
God to have mercy upon you. They will be blazoned 
out to that great assembled universe. 

But I must pass on. "Thou shalt not steal." Is 
there a man here to-night that is a thief? O, no; you can 
say there are no thieves here. Ah, don't you flatter your- 
self . There is many a man that thinks he is not a thief, 
that is a thief. When that young man takes twenty- 
five cents out of his employer's till to go to the theater, 
he is a thief as much as if he stole five thousand dollars 



154 MOODY S SERMONS. 

and got caught. When a man appropriates to himself 
one dollar that belongs to some one else, he is a thief in 
the sight of God. A drop of water is water as much as 
Lake Erie is water; and the. man that steals five cents is 
a thief in the sight of God as much as if he stole five 
hundred dollars. Some men think that they are not 
thieves unless they get caught; and they think if they 
cover up their tracks and don't get caught they never will 
be brought to judgment. God's eyes are going to and fro 
through the earth. If you have a dollar that belongs to 
some one else, I beg of you, as a friend, to make restitu- 
tion before you go to bed to-night. Pay it back if you 
want the light of heaven to flash across your path, if 
you want the smile and approbation of God to rest upon 
you, pay it back. You will not prosper as long as you 
have some one else's money. " Thou shalt not steal." 
Now, go to thinking. Have you anything that belongs to 
some one else? Have you cheated any one? Have you 
jumped on to these horse-cars and not paid your fare 
sometime when there was a great crowd, and the con- 
ductor did not come around for it? That is stealing just 
as much as if you had been a defaulter or a forger. Have 
you been on the steam-cars, and the conductor did not 
happen to come around and get your fare, and have you 
said, " I have got a ride for nothing?" You are a thief. 
You laugh at it, but it is not to be laughed at. What 
we want to-day is righteousness in this nation. What 
we want in the church to-day above everything else is 
downright honesty; and may God give it to us! These 
things are not to be laughed at. Do you know how men 
become defaulters? Just in that way. They take a little 
to begin with, and conscience comes up and smites them; 



TEKEL. 155 

but the next day they take a little more. Conscience 
don't trouble them so much. By-and-by they stifle con- 
science, and they can go on and do anything. That is the 
way these forgers begin, that is the way these defaulters 
begin, that is the way these great noted criminals begin. 
It is just the entering wedge. It is a little thing in their 
sight. But I tell you what we want to remedy is sin, and 
sin is not little. If there is a man here to-night who has 
commenced a downward course, commenced a dishonest 
life I want to beg of you to-night, before you sleep, make 
up your mind, God helping you, that you will straighten up 
any dishonesty of which you have been guilty, let it cost 
you what it will. Make restitution. 

" Thou shalt not bear false witness." I wish I had 
time to dwell on that, and the next, "Thou shalt not 
covet." 

There are those ten weights. Now, you cannot be 
weighed by one of them; you must be weighed by the 
whole. Is there a man or woman in this audience that 
is ready to be weighed? Come! I have heard so much 
about morals — is there a moral man here to-night? Are 
you ready? Have you not broken the decalogue? Is there 
a man or woman in this audience that has never broken 
any of those commandments? If you have broken one, 
you are guilty. Those are not ten different laws, but one 
law; and if I have broken one of those commandments, I 
have broken the law of God, and I am guilty. 

Let the moralist come up to-night and step into the 
scales, and see how quick he will kick the beam. Bring 
on the moralist. He walks up to those golden scales, 
and he sees written there, " Except a man be born again 
he cannot see the kingdom of God." He says, "You 
will excuse me to-night, sir. I can't be weighed." He 



156 Moody's sermons. 

don't like to step in over the text. He knows very well 
he will be found wanting. He knows very well it will 
be said, " Tekel; Thou art weighed in the balances and 
art found wanting." He goes around on the other side 
of the scales, and he sees, " Except ye be converted, and 
become as little children, ye shall not enter into the 
kingdom of Heaven." " Well," he says, " I think I will 
not be weighed to-night." He is not quite ready to be 
weighed after all. You know these texts were given by 
Christ to the moralists of His day. But, says the moralist, 
"I will step in, I guess, on the other side. I don't like 
to step in over this text," and he goes around on the 
third side, and there he sees, "Except ye repent, ye 
shall all likewise perish." He says, ' ' I will not go in on 
that side." He steps around to the fourth side. "Ex- 
cept your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of 
the scribes and pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into 
the kingdom of Heaven." " Well," he says, "I think 
I will not be weighed in those balances." But bear in 
mind, God is going to weigh 'you in them. You have got 
to be weighed in them. 

Let the rumseller step up to the scales and see if he 
is ready to be weighed. As he steps up to those scales, 
he finds written there in golden letters, " Woe be to the 
man that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." 
" Well," he says, " I think I won't be weighed to-night." 
He is not ready. 

Let the drunkard come, rumbottle in hand. He looks 
at those scales and sees, " No drunkard shall inherit the 
kingdom of God." He says, "I will not step in there 
to-night. I am afraid it will be found written on the 
wall, as it was on Belshazzar's wall, ' Tekel; Thou 



TEKEL. 157 

art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting."' 
Where is there a man to-night that is ready to be 
weighed? I can imagine a man up in the gallery says: 
"I wonder what Mr. Moody would do if he was to be 
weighed. I wonder if Mr. Moody is ready to step into 
those scales and to be weighed." I want to tell you I 
am; and I say it, I hope, without any boasting or ego- 
tism. You may put into the scales all those command- 
ments, every one of them, and I am ready to step in 
against them. Do you want to know how? I will take 
Christ in with me. I took Him as my Savior twenty odd 
years ago. I am ready to step in those scales with Him 
at any time. He will bring it down. He kept the law. 
He was the end of the law for righteousness' sake. That 
is man's only hope. I would not dare to be weighed 
without Him; but with Him I am ready at any time, day 
or night. If God calls me to step into those scales to- 
night, I will step in; and I will step in with a shout, too, 
and I will not be looking on the wall to see if it is writ- 
ten "Tekel: Thou art weighed in the balances, and art 
found wanting," because Christ has kept the law, and I 
have got Him. He offered Himself to me, and I took 
Him. He offers Himself to every guilty sinner here to- 
night. To every man and woman who has broken that 
law there is a Savior offered, there is salvation offered, 
and you can have it and live forever. But without 
Christ, what are you going to do? 



NO DIFFERENCE. 



You will find my text to-night in the third chapter of 
Romans and the twenty-second verse. ' ' For there is no 
difference." I will venture to say there are a good many 
here to-night that will differ with the text. But I didn't 
make it; and I am not going to quarrel with you. If you 
don't like it, you must settle it with the Word of God. I 
just give it to you as I have got it. If I had a servant 
working for me, and I should send that servant to deliver 
a message, and he thought it didn't sound right and should 
change the message, I think I should change servants. I 
should want him to deliver the message just as I sent it. 
If I am going to be the messenger of God to-night; if I 
am going to preach the gospel to you, I have to give 
you the law as well as the gospel. 

Now, we find in this third chapter of Romans, Paul is 
bringing in the law to show man his guilt. If a man 
wants to read his own biography, he should turn to the 
third chapter of Romans, and he will find it all there. A 
great many men are anxious to get their lives written. 
Why, they are already written. God knows more about 
you than you do about yourselves. If you want to find 
out what man is by nature, all you have to do is to read 
the third chapter of Romans. It is all there. If you 
want to find out what God is, read the third chapter of 

i 5 8 




Saul's Conversion. Acts, ix, 



NO DIFFERENCE. l6l 

John, and you will read that God so loved the world, 
even fallen man, that He gave His Son to die for him. 

Now, I do not know a text in the Bible that the natural 
man dislikes any more than this one. I have a great 
many people attack me for preaching this doctrine of 
"No difference." I was led to take it up to-night by 
what I heard last night in the inquiry-room. There was 
a moralist there, that is, he said he was a moralist; and 
he could not understand just how he was as bad as other 
people. Now, the longer I live, and the more I mingle 
with men, the more I am convinced that moralists are 
scarce, after all. There are a great many who think 
they are very moral; but I venture to say, if your sins 
and my sins — I won't leave out one now; I take every 
man and woman in this audience — if all our secret 
thoughts, and all that has been in our hearts, should be 
written on yonder wall, there would be the greatest stam- 
pede you ever saw. You would get out of this hall as if 
you were struck with the plague. You know very well 
that if your sins were all brought to light, you would not 
talk about being moralists, or about being so very good. 
Now, man is not so very good by nature after all. "The 
heart is deceitful above all things." Man is being de- 
ceived by his own heart. Man is bad by nature. I 
don't think you have got to go outside of yourself to find 
out that you are bad. If you will only get a look at 
yourself, if man could only see himself as God sees him, 
he would not be talking about his righteousness. It 
would be gone very quick. 

Now, just the moment we begin to preach from this 
text, man begins to strengthen up a.nd say, ' ' I don't be- 
lieve it." We think we are a little better than our neigh* 
bors, a little better than other people. 



1 62 Moody's sermons. 

The next verse throws light upon it. " There is no 
difference, for all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God." Every one! 

It would be an absurd thing to make a law without a 
penalty. I believe the state of Massachusetts, a few 
years ago, did make a law without a penalty, and that 
legislature became the laughing stock of the whole state. 
What is a law without a penalty? Suppose your state 
legislature should pass a law that no man in the state of 
Ohio shall steal, and fix no penalty to it, the thieves 
would be in your houses before you got home to-night. 
What do they care for a law that has no penalty? God's 
law has a penalty to it. There are not ten different laws. 
They are one law. Some people seem to think the ten 
commandments are ten different laws. They are one 
law. If you have broken one of them, you have broken 
the law, and are therefore guilty. I need not break the 
decalogue to be a sinner; if I break one of these com- 
mandments, I have broken the law of God. You need 
not take up all the rails on the railroad track between 
here and Chicago to have a collision — only one rail. A 
man may say he has a good fence around his pasture, 
but if he leaves one gap, the cattle get out. What is the 
fence good for? Take one inch of pipe out of that gas 
pipe, and the gas is cut off from this building. You need 
not take out all the pipe; take out one inch, and there is 
no gas. So if a man has broken the law of God, he is 
guilty; he is a criminal in the sight of God. That is the 
teaching of the third chapter of Romans. You will find 
it all through the teachings of Christ; he that breaketh the 
least of the law is guilty of all. Why? Because he has 
broken the law of God. He has transgressed the law of 



NO DIFFERENCE. 163 

God and become guilty in the sight of a pure God. A 
perfect God could give nothing but a perfect law, a per- 
fect standard. There is no trouble about the law. Your 
life and property would not be safe if it were not for the 
law. The law is all right. Skeptics find fault with the 
Bible. You seldom find an infidel attacking the law of 
God. That is all right. We have to have law; could 
not live without law. The trouble is, man has broken 
the law of God. If you have broken one commandment, 
you are guilty in the sight of God. If I was hanging 
from yonder ceiling by a chain of one hundred links, and 
one link should break, down I would come. The links 
do not all need to break to let me fall. 

When God put man in Eden, he bound him to the 
throne of heaven by a golden chain. When Adam fell, 
he broke that golden chain. Man is lost. He is out of 
communion with God. Some men say, " Well, do you 
pretend to say I am as bad as other people? " I don't 
know but what you are worse. The moralist straightens 
up and says, ' ' I am not as bad as that drunkard. Do 
you call me as bad as that thief, that adulterer, and that 
libertine? Do you call me as bad as that forger, that 
defaulter? " I don't know but what you are worse; really, 
I can't tell. God judges us according to the light we 
have had. Suppose I have had nothing but light from 
earliest childhood up; that I have been nursed in a relig- 
ious family; I have heard all about God, but I turn my 
back upon all His teachings, and I praise myself because 
I think I am better than other people, and call myself a 
moralist. Here is a young man who has a cursing father 
and a cursing mother, and has heard nothing but cursings 
and blasphemies. He has had no light. It may be I 



164 Moody's sermons. 

am worse in the sight of God than that man. The idea 
of a man drawing the filthy rags of self-righteousness 
about him and thinking he is better than other people! 
The fact is, there is not anything that grows on this 
Adam tree that is good. It is all bad. I will admit 
that some men have more fruit than others. Suppose 
you have two trees, both miserable, worthless, good for 
nothing. One has five hundred apples, and the other 
only five. One has more fruit, but both bad. So one 
may be more fruitful in bringing forth sin, but both bad. 

A friend of mine went into a jail some time ago and 
fell to talking with the prisoners. He began to talk with 
one who was a murderer, and he tried to rouse the man 
up to talk about his awful guilt, but the man thought he 
was not so very bad after all. " Why," said he, "you 
talk as if I was the worst man in the world. There is a 
man down in the other cell who has killed six men; I 
have only killed one." There he was trying to justify 
himself. That is the cry all over the world at the pres- 
ent time. Men are measuring themselves by men, and 
they think that because they have not committed as 
many sins as other people they are not so bad. If they 
could just get a glimpse of their own hearts, they would 
see that they were black and vile. 

Now, God never gave the law to save any man. The 
law was given that every man's mouth might be stopped, 
and the whole world become guilty before God. When 
a man gets a good look at himself in God's law, he does 
not try to make out that he is better than other people; 
he gets down in the dust, and he cries, " God be merci- 
ful to me a sinner." 

Suppose an artist should come here to this city and 



no difference:. 165 

advertise that he could photograph men's hearts; that 
he could get a correct likeness of what is in a man's 
heart, do you think he would take a single likeness in 
all this city? People arrange their toilets, go to the 
artists and get their photographs taken; and if the artist 
flatters them a little, and makes them look a little better 
than they really do look, they say, ' ' Yes, that is a very 
good likeness," and they send it to their friends and pass 
it around by post. I got one to-night from a friend, and 
it was a very fine one. 

But suppose you could get a photograph of your heart. 
Do you think you would send that around? There is not 
a man in this city who would have a photograph of his 
heart taken. You know it very well. There is not any- 
thing that will close a man's mouth about his being so 
pure, and good, and moral, as to get a look at himself in 
God's looking-glass. The law is God's looking-glass 
dropped down into the world that man may see himself 
as God sees him. Or, in other words, the law is made 
that man may see how he has fallen short of God's 
standard. 

Just a little while before the Chicago fire, I said to my 
family at breakfast that I would come home after dinner 
and take them out riding. My little boy jumped up and 
said, " Papa, will you take us up to Lincoln park to see 
the bears?" "Yes, take you up to Lincoln park to see 
the bears." You know that boys like to see animals. I 
hadn't more than gone off before he began to tease his 
mother to get him ready. She washed him, put a white 
dress on him, got him all ready. Then he wanted to go 
outdoors. When he was a little fellow he had a strange 
passion for eating dirt, and when I drove up, his face was 



1 66 Moody's sermons. 

all covered with dirt, and his dress was dirty. He came 
running up to me and wanted me to take him up in the 
carriage to Lincoln park. Said I, " Willie, I can't take 
you in that state; I have got to wash you." "No, I'se 
clean!" "No, you are not. You are dirty. I shall 
have to wash you before I can take you out riding." 
" O, I'se clean, I'se clean! Mamma washed me." "No," 
I said, "you are not." The little fellow began to cry, 
and I thought the quickest way to stop him was to show 
him himself. So I got out of the carriage, and took him 
into the house, and showed him his face in the looking- 
glass. That stopped his mouth. He never said his face 
was clean after he saw himself. But I didn't take the 
looking-glass to wash him with. I took him away to the 
water. The law is only given to show man his needs, 
to show man his guilt, not to save him. The law is a 
schoolmaster to bring him to Christ. But the law never 
saved a man, never will, and never can. The law con- 
demns me, shows me my guilt; but Christ comes and 
saves me from the curse of the law. Paul says, in this 
very chapter, that the law was given that every mouth 
might be stopped ; and when men will get done measur- 
ing themselves by their neighbors, by their friends, and 
will begin to measure themselves by God's law, they will 
see just where they are. They will see how they have 
sinned and come short of the glory of God; and they will 
not see it before. 

Why, you may go to yonder prison at Columbus, and 
you will find there, probably, a thousand prisoners, more 
or less. Some of them are there for forgery, some for 
rape, some for theft, some for manslaughter, some for 
murder; and you will find, perhaps, a hundred different 



NO DIFFERENCE. 1 67 

kinds of prisoners. But the law makes no difference. 
They have all sinned, and come short of the require- 
ments of the law of the state. They have broken the 
law. They have transgressed, and when they came to 
that prison, they all went in alike. Their hair was cut 
short, and they put on the garb of the prison, and they 
are there. " There is no difference." The law of this 
state recognizes "no difference." They are criminals. 
They are guilty. 

Not long ago one of these whisky men was taken up 
by the law, a man estimated to be worth a million dol- 
lars, and he was sent to the prison, and when he got to 
the prison door, and wanted to take his trunk in, they 
said, " No, you can't take that." " Well," he said, " I 
am afraid I can't get on with the prison fare, and I have 
brought a few things for my own comfort." "No," 
they said, ' ' there is no difference here. The law recog- 
nizes no difference." 

You may divide society into a hundred classes. There 
are the rich and the poor, the learned and the unlearned, 
men of culture, men of science. But the law of God 
recognizes no difference. If a man has broken the law 
of God, I tell you, my friends, there is no difference; and 
the quicker you can find it out, the better. A man up 
here on this avenue, worth his millions, who dies with- 
out Christ, without God and without hope, goes down to 
his grave like a beggar, and there will be no difference 
one minute after his death; and ten days after he is in 
his grave, the worms will feed upon his body as they 
would upon a beggar. We make a great difference, but 
God does not look at things as we do. 

Now, the object of this discourse is to get you people 



1 68 Moody's sermons. 

to-night to give up measuring yourselves by other peo- 
ple. If you want to get a correct measurement, meas- 
ure yourself by the law of God, and see where you are. 
A few years ago, when the city of Chicago was in- 
corporated as a city, they gave the mayor power to ap- 
point policemen. When the city was small, the plan 
worked very well, but when it got to be large; it was 
too much power in one man's hands, and he would use 
that power to secure his re-election, and the thing worked 
disastrously for the city government. Some citizens 
went to Springfield to our legislature, and got through a 
police bill that took the power out of the hands of the 
mayor, and placed it in the hands of a board of police 
commissioners. The law provided that no man should 
be a policeman unless he was of a certain height. I re- 
member there was a great rush to headquarters to get 
appointments as policemen. Men were going all over 
the city getting recommendations, because it was said 
no man would get an appointment that hadn't a good 
character. Now, for my illustration. Suppose that 
Mr. Doane and myself want to get in as policemen; we 
are running around getting letters from leading men of 
Chicago. We meet at the door at the appointed time, 
and I say, " Mr. Doane, I think I have as good a chance 
as any man in this crowd. I have letters from United 
States senators, representative in congress, the mayor 
of the city and judges of the supreme court." " Well,'' 
says Mr. 'Doane, ' ' I have letters from the same ones, 
and I am sure they do not speak any more highly of you 
than they do of me." I step up to the commissioner and 
lay down my letters, and the commissioner says to me, 
' ' Mr. Moody, those letters may be all right, but before 



NO DIFFERENCE. 1 69 

we read those letters, we will measure you. The law 
says you must be of a certain height." I stand up and 
am measured, but I don't come within the requirement 
of the law. The law says I must be five feet and six — 
for illustration, call it that— and I am only five feet. I 
do not come but within a half a foot of it, and he hands 
the letters back to me and says, ' ' Your letters may be 
all right, Mr. Moody, but you have come short of the 
standard-; the law says you shall be five feet and six 
inches." Mr. Doane looks down upon me, and he says, 
"Mr. Moody, I am a little taller than you are." I say, 
"Mr. Doane, don't say anything; wait until you are 
measured." Mr. Doane steps up, and he is five feet five 
inches and nine-tenths of an inch. He has come short 
only one-tenth of an inch. There is no difference. 

The way to measure yourself is by God's requirements. 
Is there a man here who is willing to be measured to- 
night? Are you willing to be measured by the law of 
God, and not by your neighbors and by your friends? 
That is working the mischief. People are all the time 
measuring themselves by their neighbors and friends. Be 
measured by the law of God, and see where you are. I 
do not know of anything that will stop a man's mouth 
quicker. He will not be talking about being better than 
his neighbors if he measures himself by God's law. Have 
you kept it? That is the question. 

I can imagine Noah leaving the ark and going out to 
preach from this text, ' ' There is no difference. Every 
man that does not get into the ark shall perish." Those 
antediluvians would have laughed at him; they would 
have said, " Noah, you had better get back into the ark, 
and not talk that stuff to us." " There is no difference. 



I70 MOODY S SERMONS. 

All are a-going to perish alike," says Noah. "Every 
man that does not get into the ark will perish." They 
would have caviled at him and laughed at him. I doubt 
whether or not they would not have stoned him to death. 
But did that change the fact? The flood came and took 
them all away; kings, governors, judges, rulers, drunk- 
ards, harlots, thieves, all swept away alike. "There is 
no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the 
glory of God." I can imagine Abraham leaving his tent, 
and Lot going down into Sodom a few days before 
Sodom was destroyed, and preaching from the text. 
"There is no difference; God is going to rise in judg- 
ment upon these cities of the plain. Every man that 
does not escape from this city God will destroy. When 
he comes to deal in judgment there will be no difference." 
Those Sodomites would have laughed at him. They 
would have told him he had better go back to his tent 
and his altar. But the fire came, and they were all de- 
stroyed alike. The king of Sodom, princes, governors, 
rulers, all perished alike. 

I can imagine Christ preaching to those men in Jeru- 
salem. "God is going to judge Jerusalem, and when 
God comes in judgment, there will be no difference." 
And when God judged Jerusalem,. eleven hundred thou- 
sand perished. There was no difference. All perished 
alike. 

It seems to me I got a glimpse in the Chicago fire of 
what the judgment will be, when I saw that fire rolling 
down the streets of Chicago, twenty and thirty feet high, 
consuming man and everything in its march that did not 
flee. I saw there the millionaire and the beggar fleeing 
alike. There was no difference. That night our great 



NO DIFFERENCE. 171 

men, learned men, wise men, all fled alike. There was 
no difference. And when God comes to judge the world, 
there will be no difference. Because you are in a higher 
position, or because you have a little wealth, because 
you have a title to your name or some position in this 
world, if you are out of Christ, out of the ark, it will 
make no difference. God has provided an ark of refuge. 
God says, "Come in." God has provided salvation. 
"The grace of God hath appeared bringing salvation to 
all men." You spurn the offer of mercy. You just turn 
aside from this gift. Many a man is kicking this un- 
speakable gift around as he would a foot-ball, as if it was 
not worth picking up. Whose fault is it? God has 
provided salvation for all. Many a man turnb his head 
with a scornful look and says, " I don't want it." Ah, 
my friends, if you refuse this gift, you must perish. There 
will be no difference when God comes in judgment. 

Wherever man has been tried without God, he has 
been a failure. God put Adam in Eden, surrounded 
with everything that heart could desire, and Satan 
walked in and stripped him of everything he had. I 
don't believe Satan was in the garden thirty minutes 
before he had everything that Adam had. He was a 
failure. Then God took man and made a covenant with 
him. He says to Abraham, "I will multiply thy seed 
as the stars of heaven, and as the sand which is upon the 
seashore. " After that covenant, man was a failure. He 
turned away from God. What a stupendous failure 
man was under the judges! Then we find God bring- 
ing them to Sinai and giving them the law. Who would 
have thought they were not going to keep it? Moses 
went up into the mountain to have an interview with 



172 MOODY S SERMONS. 

God and took Joshua with him, and was gone but forty 
days. Those men gathered around Aaron and said, 
"Where is Moses? We do not know anything about 
him. Make us a god to worship. " They brought gold 
to him, and he made them a golden calf. These very 
men that were going to keep the law, inside of thirty 
days were bowing down and worshiping a golden calf, 
and their children have been at it ever since. More peo- 
ple to-day bow down to the golden calf than to the God 
of heaven. Man away from God is a stupendous failure. 
Man was a failure under the prophets. Now, we have 
been two thousand years under grace, which means un- 
deserved mercy; and what is man under grace but a 
failure without God? Pick up your daily papers and look 
at your daily records. Look at that transaction in Cin- 
cinnati within forty-eight hours! Look at what is oc- 
curring in all the towns, cities and villages! Man away 
from God is a failure. When will man learn the lesson? 

But I can imagine some of you say, " Is there no star 
to light this darkness? Are we to be left under this law?" 
Right here comes this gospel. Jesus came to redeem us 
from the law. Christ was the end of the law for right- 
eousness sake. He has atoned for sin. He has by the 
sacrifice of Himself put away sin. The law cannot touch 
me. Blessed truth! The law condemns me, but Christ 
saves me. The law casts me down, but Christ lifts me 
up. If you can afford to turn away from such a Savior, 
and go on in your sins and take the consequences, you 
can take a greater responsibility upon yourself than I 
would dare to do. 

Perhaps, I can illustrate this by an incident that oc- 
curred during our war. When the war broke out, there 



NO DIFFERENCE. 173 

was a young man in New England, who was engaged to 
be married to a young lady. He enlisted for three years. 
Letters passed between them. He wrote to her after 
every battle. The three years were nearly up. She was 
counting the days before he would return. The battle of 
the Wilderness came on. She got no letter for some 
time. Day after day she went to the little village post- 
office, but got no letter; but at last one came in a strange 
handwriting, written by one of his comrades. She tore 
it open. It stated that he had lost both of his arms in 
that battle, and how he loved her, but as he would be 
dependent upon the charities of a cold world for his sup- 
port, and as she was worthy of a noble husband, he re- 
leased her from the engagement, and she was at liberty 
to marry whom she pleased. She never answered that 
letter. The next train that left that little village for the 
south she was on. She went to the army, and her tears 
and entreaties took her beyond' the lines, and she got 
down to the hospital in the Wilderness. She got the 
number of the ward or cot he was in. She went down 
that line of cots, and at last her eye fixed upon that 
number. She rushed to that cot, and bent over and 
kissed that armless man, and she said, " I never will give 
you up. These hands will toil for you. I am able to 
support you and care for you." That young man could 
have spurned her offer, and turned her away and said, 
"No, I will not carry out the engagement." He was a 
free agent. But she came to him in his helpless condi- 
tion, and now they are living a happy life. She has 
been true to her word. She takes care of that man. 

Ah, my friends, it is a poor illustration of what Jesus 
Christ will do for every sinner in this hall to-night. We 



174 MOODY S SERMONS. 

are worse than armless. We are dead in trespasses and 
sins. Christ came from the throne of heaven and re- 
deemed us from the law. " He bore our sins for us in 
his own body on the tree." " He was wounded for our 
transgressions, bruised for our iniquity, and by His stripes 
we are healed. " He took the penalty of the law into His 
own bosom. He tasted death for every man. Christ 
was the end of the law by giving up His own life. Sin- 
ner, will you have Him as your Savior? Will you let 
Him redeem you from the curse of the law to-night? 
Will you to-night pass from death unto life? You can, 
if you will have Him. "He that hath the Son hath 
life, and he that hath not the Son hath not life." And 
when you and I stand before God, the question will be, 
" What did you do with my Son? I offered you eternal 
life through Him. What did you do with Him?" 




Jesus and the Woman Taken in Adultery. John, viii, 3-1 1. 



GRACE. 

My subject is that which we have just been singing 
about, "Grace." It is one of those Bible words we hear 
so often and know so little about. You hear a great 
many people talking about their not being worthy to come 
to Christ; they would like to come, but they are not 
worthy, they are not good enough. That is a sign they 
know nothing about grace at all. Grace means unmerited 
mercy, undeserved favor. Just because man don't 
deserve it, God deals in grace with him. And when we 
see it in that light, we will get done trying to establish 
our own righteousness and our own good deeds, and take 
Christ as God would have us. 

Now, there is not any part of the Bible in which you 
will not find God shining out in grace; or, in other words, 
He wants to deal with all men in grace. He doesn't de- 
light in judgment. He delights in mercy. That is one 
of his attributes. He is anxious to deal in mercy with 
every man, woman and child on the face of the earth. 
But the trouble is, men are running away from the God 
of grace, they don't want grace, won't have it, won't 
take it as a gift. 

In proof of this, you will find, away back in Eden, 
the first thing after the fall of man, God dealing in grace 
with Adam. You find, as you read the account of his 

177 



178 Moody's sermons. 

fall, of his transgression, that there is not any sign at all 
of repentance. When God came to deal with Adam, 
there is not any sign of Adam asking for pardon. If he 
asked for pardon, it has not been put on record. There 
is no confession; there is no contrition; there is no prayer 
for mercy; and yet we find the God of all grace dealing 
with Adam there in Eden in love, in grace. He had 
mercy upon him. If He had dealt in judgment without 
grace, He would have hurled him out of Eden, or He 
would have let Eden be his resting-place. He would 
have perished right there in Eden. But we find God 
dealt in grace with Adam. He pitied him, and He had 
mercy upon him. 

You will find that, all through the Old Testament, 
grace here and there shines out; but we don't see it in 
its fullness until Christ came. He was the embodiment 
of grace and truth. 

In the first chapter of John's gospel and the fourteenth 
verse it says, "And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt 
among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the 
only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. 
For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth 
came by Jesus Christ." 

Again, in the fifth chapter of Romans and the fifteenth 
verse, we read, " But not as of the offense, so also is the 
free gift." Emphasize that little word free. It is a free 
gift. " For if through the offense of one many be dead, 
much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, 
which is by one man, Jesus Christ hath abounded unto 
many." 

Now, grace came by Jesus Christ, and hath abounded 
unto many. As we lost life in the first Adam, we get 



GRACE. 179 

life in the second Adam. We lost everything, you might 
say, in the first Adam, but we get it all back, and more, 
too, in the second Adam. He came full of grace to have 
mercy on man and to save. We cannot get the grace of 
God except through His Son. That is the channel that 
the gifts of God flow through. If a man thinks he is go- 
ing to get by Christ and going right to the Father, and 
have God deal in mercy with him, he is deceiving him- 
self. Christ is the anointed one, the sent one. God 
sent Him to deal in grace with men; and if you want the 
God of all grace to meet you and bless you, you must 
meet Him at the foot of the cross; you must meet Him 
in Christ. 

When the nations around Egypt went down into 
Egypt to get corn, the king of Egypt sent them to 
Joseph. He put everything in Joseph's hands. So the 
King of heaven has put everything in Christ's hands; 
and if you want mercy, you must go to Christ, because 
He delights in mercy; and there is not a man or woman 
on the face of the earth who really wants mercy that can- 
not find it in Him. He is the God of all grace; that is 
what Peter says. Men talk about grace, but the fact is 
we don't know much about grace. If I went to a bank 
and had a pretty good reputation for having money, if I 
was worth considerable, and I could get another man 
that was worth a little more to indorse my note, I might 
get, perhaps, five hundred dollars for a little while, but 
I would have to give a note, and perhaps have to secure 
that note, and it would read, " Thirty days after date, 
or sixty days after date, I promise to pay." Then they 
give what they call three days grace, and they make you 
pay interest for those three days; and if you are short a 



180 Moody's sermons. 

dollar, they will sell everything you have to get that from 
you. Men call that grace. They don't know anything 
about grace at all. If they had grace, they would give 
you, not only the principal, but the interest and all. That 
is what grace is. I think the reason men know so little 
about grace is that they are measuring God by their own 
rule. Now, we love a man as long as he is worthy of 
our love. When he is not, we cast him off. Not so with 
the God of all grace. Nothing will give Him greater 
pleasure than to deal in mercy, to deal in grace. 

Paul is called the apostle of grace. If you look at 
his fourteen epistles carefully, you will find that every 
one of them winds up with a prayer for grace. 

Now, I want to call your attention to a scene that oc- 
curred in the life of Christ. See how grace just flowed 
out. There was a. woman came to him who had a 
daughter who was grievously tormented at home. Per- 
haps some of you have children that are possessed of 
bad spirits, possessed of a demon, children that are just 
breaking your hearts, and bringing ruin upon your home 
and bitterness into your life. Well, this woman had a 
child that was grievously tormented, and she started off 
to Christ. He was coming to the coast of Tyre and 
Sidon, and she came out to that coast. She was not an 
Israelite. He had come for the lost sheep of the house 
of Israel. God sent him first to the Jews. But grace 
would flow out. The apostles tried to keep it back, 
but it would flow out. He came in the borders of that 
country, and this woman had faith, and she came and 
cried to the Lord to help her, and she kept crying. The 
Lord knew all about her, but He wanted to teach those 
Jews around Him a lesson. He wanted to teach them 



GRACE. I8l 

the lesson of grace. The most difficult thing Christ had 
to do when He was down here was to teach those Jews 
grace. The men that were around Him, even those 
twelve apostles, could not understand about this grace. 
They were all the time going around establishing their 
own righteousness. " We are of the seed of Jacob; we 
are the descendants of Moses and Abraham." They 
thought they were better than the nations around them. 
They called the nations around them Gentile dogs, but 
they were the seed of Abraham. He was trying to teach 
them grace. They could not understand it. This wom- 
an comes to the coast of Tyre and Sidon and begins to 
cry for help. The disciples tried to send her away. She 
was terribly in earnest, and she kept praying right there 
in the streets. She was hungering for something. I 
hope some one has come up to this tabernacle to-day 
hungering for something. You will get it if you are 
hungering and thirsting for it. She was terribly in 
earnest. She wanted the Lord to bless her. She put 
herself right in the place of that child. At last one of 
the twelve, perhaps it was Peter — he was generally the 
spokesman of the twelve — says, "Lord send her away; 
she is bothering us." Ah! Peter did not know the heart 
of the Savior. He had a blessing in his heart for that 
woman. But the woman kept on crying. At last he 
thought he would try her, and he says, " It is not meet 
to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs." 
Now, if she had been like some women in this city she 
would have probably said, " What! you call me a dog, do 
you? I won't take anything from you. I know lots of 
women who are meaner than I am; and worse than I am. 
There's a woman lives down on the same street I live, 



182 Moody's sermons. 

and she belongs to the seed of Abraham, and she is a 
good deal meaner than I am." How mad she would have 
got. But see what she did, "Yes, Lord; but the dog 
eats of the crumbs that fall from his master's table." Ah, 
it pleased the Master wonderfully. He did not send her 
away. " O woman, great is thy faith! Be it unto thee 
as thou wilt." That is a blank check for her to fill out. 
The whole treasury of heaven was open to her, and she 
could walk in and take what she wanted. She did not 
come with any work. She did not come with any tears. 
She just came for mercy. And that beautiful prayer! 
Some people tell us they can't pray; but this is one of 
the most beautiful prayers on record. "Lord" — she 
called him Lord; he was divine; he was not mere man — 
" Lord, help me." Three golden links bound her right 
to the God of all grace. You tell me you can't pray! 
Why, that little child there can make that prayer, 
" Lord, help me." That is all she said, and that is all 
she wanted. She wanted help. She had come for that, 
and she got it. If you come to-day to meet the God of 
all grace and want help, he is ready to help you. He 
delights to help. He likes to give gifts to the sons of 
men. He says, "It is more blessed to give than to re- 
ceive." He has gifts, and He wants to give every one of 
us some to-day, if we will receive them. He is full of 
grace. It don't grieve Him to have us come too often. 
It don't grieve Him to have us ask too great things. The 
only way we can displease God is not to come often 
enough; and when we do come not to ask for enough. 
This woman came for a blessing, and she got it. She 
went right home and found that child perfectly whole. 
In the seventh chapter of Luke you will find another 



GRACE. 183 

case where grace seems to come out. A certain centu- 
rion's servant was sick, and when the centurion heard of 
Jesus, he sent the elders of the Jews to ask Him to come 
and heal his servant. And the Jews came and said, 
''Lord, there is a centurion whose servant is very ill, and 
he wants to have you come and heal him; and we want 
to have you come at once, because he is worthy." Now, 
mark this. The Jews put it on the ground of his worthi- 
ness. What had he done to make him worthy? Why, 
he had built a synagogue. They thought Christ ought 
to stop His work and turn aside at once, and go and heal 
that man's servant, because he was worthy. They put 
it on the ground of works, because he had built a syna- 
gogue. O you know, I believe that is the mischief with 
many of our churches. I believe that is the trouble with 
a good many people. They think God is under obliga- 
tions to them. They think God owes them something. 
They think because they have built a synagogue, or helped 
build some church, or endowed some college, that God 
ought to deal in grace with them, and ought to have 
mercy upon them. Now, it is "To him that worketh 
not, but believeth." Now, Christ starts to go to that 
centurion's house as if He was going to deal with him in 
that way, as if He was going to put it on the ground of 
works. But before He gets to his house, the man sent 
friends to Him, saying, "Lord, don't trouble yourself; 
I am not worthy that you should come into my house; 
neither thought I myself worthy to ask you; so I sent 
these Jews." He thought other people better than him- 
self. And I tell you when a man gets there, he gets in 
a position where God can deal in grace with him; he is 
pretty near the kingdom of heaven. But the trouble 



1 84 Moody's sermons. 

with us Americans is, we think we are a little better than 
other people. We just reverse God's order, and we 
think that other people are a little lower down, and a 
little worse than we are. But this centurion thought he 
was not worthy to come and ask Christ to heal his ser- 
vant. He sent men to Him saying, ''Now, you speak 
the word, and it will be done." That pleased Christ. 
He turned around and said to those Jews, ' ' I have not 
found so great faith, no, not in Israel." Here was a cen- 
turion. He did not belong to the tribe of Abraham; but 
among the Jews He had not found a man that had such 
faith. The Lord said the word, and the servant was 
healed right then and there. He dealt in grace with him. 
So when you and I are in such a position that God can 
deal in grace with us, that very moment God deals in 
grace with us. Well, when is it? When we are just 
nothing, and are willing to let God have mercy upon us, 
then he will have mercy, not before. 

Now, if you will turn to Ephesians you will find that 
he deals in grace without works. You hear people talk 
about trying to do better. They think they can do some- 
thing that will commend them to God, and that God will 
have mercy upon them. Instead of giving up all works 
and letting God save them in His own way, they are try- 
ing to work their way to God, and that is the reason that 
they do not come. I believe to-day that works is one of 
the great obstacles in the way. Men are trying to put 
their good works in the place of a Savior. In the second 
chapter of Ephesians, second verse, we read, • ' That in 
the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of 
His grace in His kindness toward us through Jesus Christ. 
For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not 



GRACE. 185 

of yourselves; it is the gift of God." Through grace are 
you saved. Now, mark the words. There is one lady 
that is not listening. She has gone to sleep. I wish, 
friends, if you see any one asleep you would just hunch 
them with your elbow and wake them. You may save a 
soul in that way. " For by grace are ye saved through 
faith, and that not by yourselves! It is the gift of God; 
not of works; lest any man should boast." 

There will be one thing we will miss when we get to 
heaven, and that is boasting. We hear enough of that 
down here. I am sure I don't want to hear any more. 
You cannot go into any of these cities hardly but what 
you find a lot of self-made men boasting of what they 
have done, started poor and got rich, and have done this 
and this. It is, I I — boasting. I am sure there would 
be a good deal of boasting in heaven, if men could get 
there by their works. But you cannot get there in that 
way. If you get there, you have to get there by the 
sovereign grace of God. Salvation is a gift. You must 
take it as a gift. If a man could get to heaven by works, 
he would carry boasting into heaven with him. Suppose 
a man could work his way up to heaven, what is he go- 
ing to do when he gets there? He could not join the 
chorus around the throne singing the song of redemption. 
He would have to have a little harp and get off in a cor- 
ner by himself. 

Then, in the eleventh chapter of Romans and sixth 
verse, Paul says, " And if by grace, then it is no more of 
works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be 
of works, then is it no more grace." He is there bring- 
ing out the point. He says, if men are saved by works, 
there is no grace about it at all. 



1 86 Moody's sermons. 

Paul says, in the fourth chapter of Romans and fifth 
verse, "It is to him that worketh not, but believeth." 
We get salvation by faith and not by works. Not but 
that salvation is worth working for. It is worth climb- 
ing mountains, crossing rivers, swimming streams, cross- 
ing deserts and lakes, and going round the world on our 
hands and knees for. It is worth it, no doubt about it, 
but you can't get it in that way, you can't get it by works. 
"It is to him that worketh not, but believeth." If I em- 
ployed a man to work for me all day, and I gave him two 
dollars for the day's work, and he goes home, and his 
wife says to him, ' ' John, where did you get that two dol- 
lars? " and he said, "I worked and earned it," there 
would be no grace about it at all. But suppose he is 
sick and could not work, or suppose I did not have any 
work for him, and he was in distress, and I gave him two 
dollars. He goes home, and his wife says, "John, where 
did you get that money?" and he says, " Why, it is a 
gift; Mr. Moody gave it to me." 

Now, if you ever get salvation, you have to take it as 
a gift. You cannot buy it, and you cannot get it by 
your good works. 

Suppose I should say to this audience if anybody wants 
this Bible, he can have it, and a man steps up; I reach out 
the Bible; he takes it, puts it under his arm and starts off 
home. He gets home, and his wife says, ' ' John, where 
did you get that Bible?" And he says, " Why, Mr. 
Moody gave it to me." That would be a gift. But sup- 
pose I should say, I will give that Bible to any one that 
wants it, and a man comes up and says, "Mr. Moody, 
I don't just like your terms. I don't like to be under 
obligations to you," and that is about the way with sin- 



GRACE. 187 

ners; they do not like to be under obligations to God. 
So this man says, " I would like to take it, but not on 
your terms. I will give you twenty-five cents for the 
Bible." I know it is worth a good deal more than that; 
but suppose I take the twenty-five cents, and the man 
goes home with the Bible under his arm, and his wife 
says, "John, where did you get that Bible?" He says, 
" I bought it." It is no gift at all. He bought it. 

Now, don't you see that it is a gift? All through the 
Bible it is called a gift. If it is a gift, it must be without 
works; it must be without money. It would be no gift 
at all if you paid for it, if you paid a farthing. It is a 
gift from God. But you can spurn the gift. You can 
trample it under your feet. You can .iy, " I will not 
have grace." Then you must have judgment. If any 
man will not have grace, he must have judgment. If 
a man will not have mercy, he must have punishment. 
Is not that the teaching of the Scriptures? God says, 
" I delight in mercy; I want to give you the gift of eter- 
nal life." " The wages of sin is death." Man has got 
to take his wages, whether he wants to or not. "The 
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life." 

Now, the question comes, "To whom does he offer 
this gift? To the righteous? He offers it to the world. 
He offers it to sinners; and if a man can prove that he is 
a sinner, I can prove he has got a Savior. If man can 
prove he was born into this world, I can prove that God 
has provided a Savior for him. " God gave Him up," 
says Paul, "freely for us all." I like these texts that 
have these sweeping assertions that take us all in. " God 
gave him up for us all." Christ did not die for Paul 
any more than He did for the rest of us. He tasted 



1 88 • Moody's sermons. 

death for us all. " That is what I believe," says a man 
down there, "and every man will be saved." Yes, 
every man that will lay hold of the cross will be saved. 
4 'If ye die in your sins, where I am ye cannot come.' 
If a man goes on sinning, violating the law of God, 
trampling it under his feet, and will not take the yoke 
of God upon him down here, do you think he is going 
into the kingdom of God? Do you think he will have 
any taste for heaven? 

In the second chapter of Titus, eleventh and twelfth 
verses, Paul says, "For the grace of God that bringeth 
salvation hath appeared to all men. " I can imagine a 
man says, " Do you think that is really true? " " Yes." 
"What! Does that mean drunkards?" "Yes, every 
drunkard in this city." "What! Do you mean all 
these harlots that are walking the streets to-night? " 
"Every harlot the grace of God hath appeared, bringing 
salvation to every man." " What! Do you mean gam- 
blers? " ' ' Yes, every gambler. " ' ' And these murderers 
down here in prison, and some that haven't been caught?" 
"Yes; every murderer. The grace of God hath ap- 
peared, bringing salvation to all men." If men are lost, 
it is because they spurn God's gift. They spurned His 
offer of mercy. It is not that God don't offer it. It is 
as free as the air we breathe. 

I remember preaching upon the grace of God once in 
Chicago, to a fashionable congregation, and I was just 
hungering for some souls. I was anxious that the grace 
of God might find some one there, and while I was 
preaching I was looking around to see if I could see any 
one that was anxious to be saved. At the close of the 
meeting I said, " If there is any one here that wants to 



GRACE. 189 

be saved, I will be glad to stay and talk with him." It 
was one of the coldest nights of the winter, and they all 
got up and went out, and my heart sank within me. I 
looked all around and did not see any one wait. I got 
my overcoat, and was the last one to leave, as I supposed; 
but as I got to the door, I saw a man behind the furnace. 
He was crying as if his heart would break. I sat down 
by his side and I said, ' ' What is the trouble? " He said, 
"Well, you said something to-night that broke my 
heart." "What is it?" "You said that the grace of 
God was for the likes of me." I said, "That is good; I 
am glad it has reached you." He thought he could not 
be saved. But it was for the like of him. I talked 
with him, and found out what his trouble was. He was 
just one of those poor unfortunate men that liquor had 
got the mastery of, and, although it was one of the cold- 
est nights, he had no coat on. He drank that up. He 
said that within the past six months he had drank up 
twenty thousand dollars. "And now," said he, "my 
wife has left me, and my children, and my own father 
and mother have cast me off, and I expected to die 
here in the gutter one of these nights. I expected this 
was my last night." He said, " I didn't come in to hear 
you; I came in to get warm, but my heart is broken. Do 
you think the grace of God can save me, a poor, misera- 
ble, vile wretch like me?" I said, " Yes." 

It was refreshing to preach the gospel of the Son of 
God to that poor man. I prayed with him, and after I 
prayed with him, he didn't ask me for any money, but I 
took him to a place where he was provided for that 
night, and the next morning I had a friend go to the 
pawnbroker's to get his coat; got his coat upon him, and 



190 Moody's sermons. 

in a little while he came out a decided Christian; and 
when Mr. Sankey and myself went to Europe, We did not 
leave a brighter light in all the western states than that 
young man. The grace of God found him. The grace 
of God saved him, and the grace of God has kept him. 

That is what the grace of God is for. There is not a 
man, woman or child in this city so far gone but the 
grace of God can save him. What we want is, as Chris- 
tians, to be up and publishing the tidings, proclaiming 
the glorious gospel of Christ. It is a gospel of glad tid- 
ings. My friends, make haste. Take the torch of sal- 
vation and carry it down into the dark lanes, and dark 
alleys, and dark homes, and light them up with the glo- 
rious gospel of the Son of God. Jesus is mighty to save. 
His name shall be called Jesus, for He shall save His peo- 
ple from their sins. He is a mighty Savior, but the 
world don't know it. The world has been deceived by 
the devil; has been blinded by the god of this world. 
What we want is to tell them that Christ is able to save, 
and that He is ready to save. 

There is a story told of William Dorset, that York- 
shire farmer. He was preaching one night in London, 
and he made the remark that there was not a man in all 
London so far gone but that the grace of God could save 
him. That is a very strong assertion, for there are some 
pretty hard cases in London, a city of four million inhab- 
itants. You go into the east of London and see that 
awful pool of iniquity; the stream of death and misery 
flows right on. But he made that statement, that there 
was not a man or woman in all London so far gone but 
that the grace of God could save them. It fastened in a 
young lady's mind, She went home that night, and the 



GRACE. 191 

next morning she went to see the Yorkshire farmer. She 
said, " I heard you preach last night, and I heard you say 
that there was not a man so far gone in all London, but 
that the grace of God could save him." She said, "Did 
you really mean it?" "Why?" he said, "certainly I 
meant it." "And do you think that there is not a man in 
all London but that can be saved if he will be? " " Why, 
certainly," said Mr. Dorset, "not a man." " Well," she 
said, " I am a missionary, and I work down in the East 
End of London, and I have found a man there who says 
that there is no hope for him. He is dying, and I can't 
make him believe that there is any hope for him. I wish 
you would go and see him." The man of God said he 
would be glad to go. She took him down one of those 
narrow streets until they came to an old filthy building. 
She said, "I think, perhaps, you can manage him better 
alone." It was a five-story building. He went up 
stairs to the upper story, and found a young man lying 
there upon some straw; there was no bed. Ah, the way 
of the transgressor is hard! He had got clear down into 
great poverty and want, and there he was sick and dying. 
Mr. Dorset bent over him, whispered into his ear, and 
called him friend. The young man looked up at him 
astonished. " You are mistaken, sir, in the person. You 
have got in the wrong place." "How is that?" asked 
Mr. Dorset. " Well, sir, I have no friend; I am friend- 
less." He said, " You have a friend." Then he told him 
of the sinner's friend. He told him how Christ loved 
him. The young man shook his head, " Christ 
don't love me." " Why not?" " I have sinned against 
Him all my life." " I don't care if you have. He loves 
you still, and He wants to save you." And he preached 



192 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Christ to him there. He told him of the glorious grace 
of God. He told him that God could save him, and he 
read to him out of the Bible. The light of the gospel 
began to dawn upon that darkened mind, and the first 
sign of a new life was, his heart went out toward those 
whom he had injured, and he said, ' ' If I could only know 
that my father would forgive me, I could die in this 
garret happy." He asked him where his father lived. 
He said, " In the West End of London." Mr. Dorset 
said, " I will go up and see him, and will ask him if he 
will not forgive you." The young man shook his head. 
""I don't want you to do that. Why, sir, my father had 
disowned me. He has disinherited me. My father has 
had my name taken off the family record. He does not 
own me any more as his boy. I am as dead, sir, to him 
If you go and talk to him about me, he will get angry 
and order you out of the house, and you have been so 
kind to me I don't want your feelings hurt." Mr. 
Dorset went up to the West End of London to a most 
beautiful place and rang the bell. A servant dressed in 
livery came to the door. Mr. Dorset inquired if his mas- 
ter was in, and was told that he was. He was taken 
into the drawing-room, and while he was waiting there 
for the man of the house to come down, he looked around 
him. There was not a thing that heart could desire that 
had not been laid out on that beautiful home. By-and- 
by the man came into the room. Mr. Dorset got up and 
went across the room to shake hands with him. He said, 
" You have a son, sir, by the name of Joseph, have you 
not? The father's hand fell by his side. His countenance 
changed. Mr. Dorset saw that he had made him very 
angry. He said in a great rage, " No, sir. And if you 



GRACE. 193 

have come here to talk to me about that worthless vaga- 
bond, I want you to leave my house. I don't allow any 
one to mention his name in my presence. He has been 
dead to me for years, and if you have been to him you 
have been deceived. He cannot be relied upon." He 
turned on his heel to go out of the room, to leave him. 
Mr. Dorset said, "Well, he is your boy yet. He won't 
be long." The father turned again. "Is my Joseph 
sick?" "Yes, your boy is at the point of death, sir. 
He is dying. I have not come here to ask you to take 
him home, or to ask you to give him anything, sir; I will 
see that he has a decent burial. All I want is to have 
you tell me that you forgive him, and let him die in 
peace." The great heart of the father was broken, and 
he said, " Forgive him? O, I would have forgiven him 
long ago if I had known he wanted it. Forgive him! 
Certainly. Can you take me to him?" The man of God 
said he would take him to him, and they got into a car- 
riage and were soon on their way; and when the father 
reached the garret he could hardly recognize his boy, all 
mangled and bruised by the fall of sin. The first thing 
the boy said to his father was, "Father, can you for- 
give me? Will you forgive me? " " O Joseph, I would 
have forgiven you long ago if I had known you wanted 
it." He met him in grace right there. The father said, 
" Let my servant take you in the Carriage, and take you 
home. I cannot let you die in this fearful place." "No, 
father, I am not well enough to be moved. I shall die 
soon, but I can die happy now that I know you have for- 
given me; for I believe that God, for Christ's sake, has 
forgiven me." And in a little while, with his head on 
the bosom of his father, Joseph breathed his last, and 
passed back to his God. 



194 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Yes, my friends, that father was willing to forgive him 
when he knew that the boy wanted grace. Now, God 
knows all your hearts, and if you want grace to-day, the 
God of all grace will meet you. He will meet you in 
mercy. He will meet you in pity. He will bless you 
to-day. He wants to bless you. Sin ruins, sin casts 
down, but the grace of God lifts up. O, may the grace 
of God lift you up to-day out of the pit, and place your 
feet on the Rock of Ages! 




Daniel. Daniel, x. 



WHY HALT YE ? 



You will find my text in the eighteenth chapter of first 
Kings, verse twenty-one, ''And Elijah came unto all the 
people and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? 
If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if Baal, then fol- 
low him. And the people answered him not a word." 
He asked them a question that they were not willing to 
answer. I venture to say if I should put that question 
to each one of you here to-night, a good many, if not 
half, of this congregation would refuse to answer. I heard 
of a gentleman here last night, who said he would like to 
ask me some questions. If that man is here to-night, I 
would like to ask him a question. " How long halt ye 
between two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow him; 
if Baal, follow him." It is a fair, square, practical 
thing, isn't it? If these things are true that are written 
here in this book, the quicker we find them out and be- 
lieve them, the better. It is certain we cannot serve God 
and Baal. That is out of the question. Another thing- 
is certain, and that is we serve the one or the other. No 
man stands on neutral ground in this matter. " He that 
is not for me," says Christ, "is against me." A great 
many men take the ground that they are not on either 
side. This is out of the question. Some take the 
ground that they are on both sides. That is out of the 

197 



I9o MOODY S SERMONS. 

question. If there is any one character above another 
that we detest — now, I am not talking about sinners; we 
love sinners — if there is any one character that we detest 
above another, it is the man who tries to be on both sides, 
who agrees exactly with the last man he meets. If you 
make a statement, " Yes, those are my views exactly; I 
agree with you, sir." A man comes along with just the 
opposite view. " Those are my views, exactly; yes." 

There is not a person in this house to-night but has a 
perfect dread of such people. You detest a character of 
that kind. During our war there were, in the border 
states, some of those people. They kept two flags. 
When the southern army came along, they would run out 
the confederate flag; then when the northern army 
came along, and they thought they were going to be in 
town some time, they would pull in the southern flag 
and run out the union flag, the star spangled banner. 
Do you know that those people suffered more than any 
other people? The southern army would strip them of 
everything they had, and if they hid anything from the 
southern army and accumulated anything, when the 
union army came along, it would strip them of every- 
thing. Both armies detested them. We like to have 
men one thing or the other. You cannot serve God and 
mammon. You cannot have two masters in this matter. 
" He that is not for Me is against Me." 

Now, the question is to-night, whose side are you on? 
I read of a king in ancient time who married a heathen 
wife. He wanted to please his wife, and so he put up 
two altars. One altar was to a heathen god, and on the 
other he tried to serve Jehovah. Do you think he did 
it? There is not a child in this audience but that knows 
very well he could not do it. 



WHY HALT YE ? 1 99 

Now, I would like to press the question home upon 
you, who is your God to-night? If I understand it cor- 
rectly, the God of our soul is the one that we think the 
most of. Is it the god of pleasure? Is it the god of 
fashion? Is it the god of the world? Or is it the God 
of the Bible, the God of Elijah? Now, it is Baal or 
Jehovah. Which is it? I know men will try and dodge 
the question and say it is not either. But that is impos- 
sible. Christ has settled that question forever. You 
cannot serve God and mammon. 

Mark Antony, the great Roman general, yoked up two 
lions and used to drive them through the streets of 
Rome. But there are two lions we read of in this book 
that cannot be yoked together. They never go together. 
The lion of the tribe of Judah and the lion of hell will 
never be yoked together. You cannot serve the two. 
You cannot put them together. It is one or the other, 
and it is for you to settle which. God gives us that 
privilege. That is just where free agency comes in. 
You can have Baal, or you can have the God of the Bible. 
I believe to-night there is not, perhaps, one in this audi- 
ence but that means to decide sometime; but it is so 
hard to get them to the point of decision. It is so hard 
to get them across that. line. They halt one day too 
long. 

When there is a great question before us, we have 
really no peace until the question is settled. If we are 
unsettled on any very important subject, there is no real 
rest to our minds. There cannot be. Here is the great 
question of questions. I will venture to say that there is 
not any one in this church who will not admit that. We 
know very well that our life is too short. It is but a 



200 MOODY S SERMONS. 

vapor; it is soon gone. If these things are true, they are 
eternally true. They not only concern us in time, but 
they concern us in eternity. In a few days or months or 
years, you and I will be gone. Life is ebbing fast away. 
The sands of time are running out. If the God of Elijah 
is true, then we certainly ought to know it, and follow 
him. 

Now, the men that have left the deepest footprints 
upon the shores of time have been men of decision. 
Leave out the religious question. If they have been 
great rulers, they have been men of decision. Do you 
know why so many of our generals failed in the late war? 
They could not decide. They lacked decision of charac- 
ter, and at the very time they ought to have decided and 
pushed on to victory, they deferred and lost the victory. 

Some one asked Alexander how he conquered the 
world, and he said he conquered it by not delaying. If 
this question is going to be conquered, we cannot delay. 
Many a man has come up to the line, and he has halted, 
and wavered and delayed it until one day too late. He 
did not decide. 

You have a good deal more admiration for a man of 
decision than for a man that is vacillating. That is what 
we like about Daniel so much. What makes his charac- 
ter so beautiful? It shines out upon the page of history 
to-night brighter than it did when he lived. He has been 
gone twenty-five hundred years, and yet his fragrance is 
throughout the whole world. When he went down to 
Babylon, before he was twenty years old, he purposed in 
his heart whom he would serve. The Chaldeans soon 
found out whose side he was on. He was a man of de- 
cision. It was that that made him so mighty and such a 



WHY HALT YE? 201 

wonderful man. Many a young man comes up to this 
city from a country home, who has a vacillating charac- 
ter, and he has not decision enough to do the right 
thing, to act up to his conscience. He is convinced in his 
mind he ought to do it, but he vacillates, and he halts, 
and he is influenced by the world around him, and he 
does not decide to do the right thing at the right time. 
Decision of character is what made Joseph so wonderful. 
It was that very thing that made Paul such a mighty man. 
When God called him, he decided. He did not confer 
with flesh and blood. He did not stop to reason. God 
called him. That was enough. He decided. He leaped 
into the race-course and leaped over the highway, right 
on up to glory, never stopped. Cold churches and false 
brethren, perils in the wilderness, chains, persecutions, 
stripes never stopped him. He was a man of decision. 
O, I would to God we had a thousand such men in this 
country to-day! That is what we want. 

Look at that vacillating Balaam. In profession he 
would be a servant of the most high God; but in prac- 
tice he bowed down to Baal, because he wanted the ap- 
plause of the world. Look at Agrippa, almost per- 
suaded; but he lacked moral courage to be altogether 
persuaded, such as Paul. Felix got so far as to tremble;' 
but he said, "Go thy way for this time." He was not 
willing to decide then. And how many men since Felix 
have said, "Go thy way for this time; I will decide this 
question some other time." 

Three years and a half before this thing occurred on 
Mount Carmel, Ahab, one day, was startled by a strange- 
appearing man. I don't know how he got by the guard 
at the door, into the presence of Ahab, but all at once 



202 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Elijah stood there right before him, and the first thing he 
said was, "As the Lord liveth, before whom I stand, 
there shall be neither dew nor rain until it comes by my 
word," and then fled. I suppose Ahab thought he was 
some lunatic. If they had insane asylums in those days, 
he would probably have thought he had just come out of 
some asylum. He was strangely dressed. His garment 
was made of the skin of a camel.- He had a leathern 
girdle around his loins. He might have had a staff in 
his hand. And away the man went. I will venture to 
say Ahab didn't believe a word he said; but the next 
morning there was no dew. They didn't have any beau- 
tiful fogs coming up, such as you and I see down in the 
valley of the Connecticut river valley, moistening every- 
thing. There was no fog, and there was no rain. They 
looked. There was not a cloud as large as a man's hand 
to be seen for months. By-and-by the springs dried up, 
and the little brooks that came rippling down the moun- 
tain side were all dry. At last there was a wail heard 
in the land. A famine was coming on. Now, this king 
inquired, "Where is this man that came into my pres- 
ence, and said there would be neither dew nor rain? We 
must find that man. Why, he has the keys of heaven." 
Search is made from one end of the land to the other, 
and they can't find him. Ahab then goes to the nations 
all around, and takes an oath from them that they have 
not this man hid away. A whole year passed, and not 
a drop of dew; everything is as dry as Gideon's fleece. 
The second 3 ear comes, and no rain. The people be- 
gin to move off. Many of them move off into other 
lands, and there is great suffering from one end of the 
country to the other. 



WHY HALT YE ? 203 

The third year comes, and there is neither dew nor 
rain. A half-year more passes, and at last Ahab says to 
Obadiah, "We must go and find something to keep our 
beasts alive; they are dying." It had reached the palace 
now. The king began to suffer. And he says to Oba- 
diah, " You go that way, and I will go this, and we will 
see if we can't find grass for our beasts." They started. 
I don't know how far Obadiah had got from the palace, 
not a great ways, when whom should he meet but Elijah. 
The voice of God had come to Elijah up there in the 
other country, and told him to go and meet Ahab. What 
must have been that prophet's feelings as he passed over 
the line, and passed into his own native country? Deso- 
lation was on all sides. There were the bones of animals 
bleaching on the mountain side; the streams all dried up; 
the earth all dried and cracked open. As he passed 
through every little village, he could see funeral proces- 
sions bearing away their dead. Many had died while he 
had been gone. There was ruin and desolation from one 
end of the land to the other. He passed through the 
land a stranger. They did not know that he was the 
man that held the keys, the man they had been looking 
for so long. He comes up, and what must have been 
Obadiah's feelings when he saw him? He sees Elijah 
turn around the corner, and he comes down the high- 
way, and he cries out, " My Lord Elijah, art thou here? 
Is it possible you have come? Art thou here? " He says, 
M 'I am. Go and tell your master that I am here." Then 
he says, "What have I done that you want to bring 
ruin upon me? Have you not heard while you have been 
gone how I have taken care of the Lord's prophets; how 
I have hid them by fifties in caves to keep them so 



204 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Jezebel would not murder them?" "Yes, I heard all 
about it," says Elijah. " Go and tell the king I am 
here." Obadiah says, " If I go and tell the king thou 
art here, as soon as I am gone from thee the spirit of the 
Lord shall carry thee whither I know not; and so when I 
come and tell Ahab, and he cannot find thee, he shall 
slay me." Elijah says, "As the Lord liveth, before 
whom I stand, I will stand before Ahab to-day." It is 
not very often subjects send for a king, you know. But 
Obadiah went, and he says to Ahab, "We have found 
Elijah." " What do you say? The prophet, that Tish- 
bite? Have you found him?" "Yes." " Where is he?" 
" He is down the road." " Why didn't you bring him? " 
"Why, he wouldn't come. He told me to come and 
bring you." "Well, I will go and see him; I would like 
to see him." And he comes towards Elijah full of rage, 
nothing but malice in his heart, and he walks up to the 
prophet, " Art thou the man that has been troubling 
Israel? " " No," says he, " I am not; you are the man." 
Ahab was not used to having people talk in that way to 
him. " I am not the man; you are the man; it is you and 
your house; it is you and your iniquity; it is you and 
your sin; you have brought this ruin upon the country; I 
warned you. Now," says he, " let us have this thing 
tested, and let us find out who is the God of Israel. You 
summon Israel up on to Mount Carmel, and we will go 
up there, and we will have the thing tested; we will find 
out who is the true God." And Ahab obeys him as if 
Elijah was king. Israel is summoned upon Mount Car- 
mel. What must have been the feelings of Ahab's mes- 
sengers as they went from village to village, from town 
to town, to tell the people to come up on Mount Car- 



WHY HALT YE ? 205 

mel? When men's pockets are touched, they are always 
excited, and now it is going to touch their pockets. If 
they can get rain, they will not lose their land, and they 
can live. The whole country is excited and stirred. 
Talk about people not being excited! I will venture to 
say that country was as much excited as this country has 
ever been. Excitements are not bad sometimes. I 
have known men to get terribly excited if corn went up 
five cents, or cotton ten cents; but if people would get 
worked up about their soul's salvation, " O, that is false 
excitement. That is wild-fire. You must be careful, 
now." I will venture to say that country was stirred 
from end to end when they heard Elijah had got back. 

And on the day appointed, you can see the crowd mov- 
ing up toward Mount Carmel. They come from every 
town and village. The chief men of the nation are all 
there. Their leading men, their magistrates, and their 
elders move up toward Mount Carmel, and at last you 
can see those eight hundred and fifty prophets, four hun- 
dred prophets of the grove, and four hundred and fifty 
prophets of Baal. They move in solid column up that 
mountain side with their long, flowing robes. It must 
have made a great impression on the people; eight hun- 
dred and fifty of them moving up toward Mount Car- 
mel. Not only that, but with that company of priests 
comes Ahab with his escort and his chariots. The influ- 
ence of the whole royal family was on the side of Baal. 
The whole nation, to the outward eye, had gone over to 
the service of Baal. They had backslidden and left the 
God of the Bible. They had left the God of Israel. 
They had left the God of their fathers. 

That is just what this nation is doing now. Many are 



206 Moody's sermons. 

going over to Baal. Many are now beginning to tear 
that book to pieces, and they are doubting whether God 
is true or not. They are in the balances, halting and 
wavering between two opinions. At last you can hear 
the people wondering if Elijah would be there. Where 
is he? They don't care so much about these prophets of 
Baal. They had seen them for these three years and a 
half. They had got quite well acquainted with them. 
But where is the prophet that had been holding the keys 
so long, and been keeping back the rain and the dew; 
this man that had such mighty power with God? Where 
is he? At last Elijah makes his appearance alone. He 
has no Ahab. He has no royal court around him. He 
wears no flowing robe. He has on the same old coat 
make of camel's skin; a leather girdle around his loins, 
and his staff in his hand. He moves up that mountain 
like a giant. Every eye is upon him. Talk about sen- 
sation! I venture to say there was a sensation when 
Elijah appeared. There was not any man asleep then. 
There was not a man asleep on Mount Carmel when he 
appeared. They were looking right at him. He came 
to the people, and he said, " How long halt ye between 
two opinions? If the Lord be God, follow Him; but if 
Baal, then follow him." And the people answered him 
not a word. "Now," says he, " let us have the thing 
decided to-day. Let the prophets of Baal build an altar 
right here, and then let them put a sacrifice on that altar, 
and let them call upon their god, or gods, and if their 
god answers by fire and consumes the sacrifice, then that 
settles the question. If their god doesn't, and my God 
does, let Him be the God. The god that answers 
prayer. In other words, let Him be God. The God 



WHY HALT YE ? 207 

that answers by fire, let Him be God." And the people 
said, "That is well said. That is very well put. You 
could not do any better than that." And there were the 
priests. I don't think they thought it was going to be 
put in that way, or else you would not have caught them 
there. But the people said, "It is well said." They 
built an altar, slew an animal, and put it on the altar; 
and about nine o'clock in the morning they began to cry 
to Baal to come and consume the sacrifice. And if the 
Lord had not withheld Satan, I don't know but they 
would have got a spark out of hell to kindle a fire and 
burn it up. But the Lord did withhold Satan. They 
did not have that power. And they cried, " O Baal! 
O Baal! " and they cried for three hours. You could 
hear their cry, probably, clear off to the sea. It was a 
very earnest meeting. People say it does not make any 
difference what a man believes, if he is only sincere. 
They say you can believe in Baal as well as the God of 
the Bible, if you are only in earnest. I never read of 
more sincere men in my life than those eight hundred 
and fifty men. They got so sincere that before noon 
they jumped on the altar and took knives and cut them- 
selves until the blood just covered them from head to 
foot, and they cried at the top of their voices. About 
noon Elijah says, " Cry louder! Your god must be on a 
journey somewhere, or he has gone to sleep! Cry 
louder!" Elijah might have said, "If your god an- 
swers prayer, why didn't you call for rain while I was 
gone? If your god now will come and give you fire; I 
should have thought you would have called for water 
while I have been away. If your god answers prayer, 
why didn't you cry for rain? Why didn't you call for 



208 Moody's sermons. 

Baal to help you?" They prayed on till three o'clock in 
the afternoon, six long hours. I will venture to say they 
got so hoarse they could hardly speak to be heard. They 
holloaed and yelled and cried to Baal, and no answer 
came. 

At three o'clock, the time of the evening sacrifice, 
Elijah says, "Now, I will build my altar. " He would 
have nothing to do with Baal's altar. We just w 7 ant to 
let Baal's altar alone. Keep away from it! He built an 
altar of his own. There is separation for you, on Mount 
Carmel. Elijah took stones and built his altar. He took 
twelve stones to represent the twelve tribes. He put on 
the wood, and got everything ready. He slew the beast 
and put it on the altar. 

Now, he is not going to have those men say that he 
had some fire concealed there. Says he, "Go and bring 
me four barrels of water." He dug a trench all around 
that altar. Says he, "Pour the water on." They did 
that. " Bring on four barrels more," and they put on 
eight barrels. It ran all around the trench. " Bring on 
four more," and they put on twelve barrels of water, 
until the trench was full. Everything was all dripping 
with water. There is his dripping sacrifice. 

About three o'clock in the afternoon, the time of the 
evening service, Elijah drew near to the altar. Every eye 
is on him. There stand the elders of Israel. They are 
looking at him. Great things are at stake this afternoon. 
And now he does not call upon Baal, but he begins his 
prayer, "Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and of Israel, 
let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel, and 
that I am thy servant, and that I have done all these 
things at thy word. Hear me, O Lord, hear me, that 



WHY HALT YE ? 209 

this people may know that thou art the Lord God, and 
that thou hast turned their hearts back again." He did 
not get any further than that; just commenced his prayer; 
had not prayed a minute, when lo! Look yonder! See! 
Fire coming down; it leaps on the altar, it burns up the 
sacrifice, it burns up the wood, burns up the stones, 
burns up the dust, licks up the water, and the people fall 
on their faces and cry, "The Lord, He is God. The 
God that answers prayer, He is God." My friends, Baal 
never answered a prayer yet. You that are serving Baal 
never got one answer to prayer, The God of your 
mother, the God of that Bible, He answers prayer. Then 
Elijah prayed again, and he prayed that there might be 
rain; and he sent his servant to see if there was any sign 
of rain. And the servant came back and said, "There 
is no sign." He bowed his head on Carmel and prayed 
again, and sent his servant, and he came back and said, 
' ' There is no sign." He sent him seven times. When 
he came back the seventh time, he said he saw a little 
cloud about as big as a man's hand coming out of the sea. 
And Elijah said, " Ahab, make haste and get home. You 
will get wet if you don't. There is rain coming." He 
had got the heavens opened. What brought that cloud 
out of the sea? What brought the rain down? Elijah's 
prayer. Elijah was a man of like passions with you and me. 
My friends, what is a God good for that don't answer your 
prayer? If you have a God that don't hear your cry when 
you have a son that has gone astray, what is that God 
good for? Baal don't answer prayer. Why not turn 
back to the God of Elijah? 

But I can imagine some of you say, "If I had lived 
in the days of Elijah, and had witnessed that scene, I 



2IO - . MOODY S SERMONS. 

would have believed." Well, seven or eight hundred 
years after that, on another mountain, not far from Mount 
Carmel, a scene took place a good deal more wonderful 
than that which occurred on Mount Carmel. You and I 
live this side of Calvary. Those men did not have the 
light we have. I tell you the scene that took place at 
Mount Calvary is a thousand times more wonderful than 
the scene that took place at Mount Carmel. Look at 
the Son of God, going up that mountain bearing His 
own cross; nailed to that cross to put away your sins 
and mine. When He perished on that cross His human- 
ity died. This earth shook. There was a terrible 
earthquake, and the rocks were rent, and the very dead 
came up out of their graves, and went back to Jerusalem 
and met their friends. Jerusalem was filled with men 
that came up out of their graves with Him as trophies 
of His resurrection, as witnesses of the victory that He 
had won. Yes, not only the resurrection, but our Lord 
and Master has gone up on high, He has led captivity 
captive, He is at the right hand of God to-night, and He 
hears prayer. What more proof do we want? O, let 
this question be decided to-night. Let the God of your 
mother and the God of your father be your God. Let 
the God of Elijah be your God. Let us decide that we 
will follow Him, and that we will not follow Baal. Let 
the decision be rendered right here to-night. Look at 
that poor, vacillating Pilate that we were reading about 
to-night. He was convinced in judgment that Christ 
was true. His own treacherous heart told him that Jesus 
Christ was true. His own conscience told him that 
Christ was true, but he lacked moral courage to take his 
stand and decide for Jesus Christ. He perished for the 



WHY HALT YE i 211 

want of decision. I believe hundreds and thousands are 
going down to eternal death just for the want of decision. 
They lack moral courage to decide this question. My 
friends, let it be decided right here to-night. Let it be 
decided now. Let us say, " To-night, and this hour I 
will settle this question. If the God of Elijah is ready 
and willing to receive me, I will come to him." He is, 
my friends. He has forever settled that question by giv- 
ing Christ to die for us. Christ never would have come 
into this world and perished on the cross, if He had not 
been willing to save perishing sinners. And now what 
you want is to let Him save you. Let Him save you here 
to-night. ' ' Him that cometh unto me, " He says, ' ' I will 
in no wise cast out." He will not cast you out; but He 
will receive you this very night if you will come. 

Now, let me say, if that Bible is not true, the quicker 
you and I find it out the better. If there is no God to 
condemn sin, let us find it out. If there is no God to lift 
us up or cast us down, let us find it out. Let us decide 
this question one way or the other, God or Baal. Let us 
not vacillate between two opinions. If Christianity is a 
myth and a farce, as some people tell us, let us take our 
Bibles and burn them. I tell you it is a farce to go on 
spending money for churches if this Bible is not true. 
Look at the money spent in building this church. Look 
at the money spent in publishing the Bible and sending 
it to the nations of the earth. If it is not true, let us 
come out like men and fight it. I have a great deal more 
respect for those atheists who come out and fight the 
Bible and churches, than I have for those people who 
pretend to be on both sides, who pretend to be friends 
of Christianity, and are all the time stabbing it in the 



212 Moody's sermons. 

dark. Let us be one thing or the other. I am in hopes 
of living to see the day that we are going to have Christ- 
ians and infidels out and out. Let the line be drawn. 
He that is for God, let him take his stand. He that is 
against God, let him take his stand. Let us know who 
they are. Let us have the line drawn. Let us not pro- 
fess to be what we are not. If the Bible is not true, let 
us take it into the street and make a bonfire and burn it. 
If Christianity is not true, if it is a myth and a farce, Jet 
us bury it, and get upon the tomb and say, ' ' There is no 
Christianity; there is no heaven; there is no hell; there 
is no hereafter; it is all a fiction; it is all a delusion." If 
it is so, let us take our stand, and let us build a monu- 
ment to Voltaire and Paine. Let us honor those men 
that have been fighting that book, if it is a lie. But, if 
it is true, let us take our stand by it. Let us come out 
like men and decide this question. Let us decide it at 
once. You can decide it to-night if you will; and the 
quicker it is decided the better. You know if Satan can 
get you to put this thing off until to-morrow, that is all 
he wants. 

I believe more men are lost in this country by delay- 
ing than from any other one thing. They mean to be 
Christians some time. They mean to settle this question 
some time; but they say, "Not to-night. Not to-day. 
To-morrow." To-morrow! To-morrow! To-morrow! 
Satan knows very well that to-morrow never comes; and 
if this question is ever going to be decided, we have 
got to decide it in the light we have now. Behold, now 
is the accepted time, and now, right here to-night, is 
the day of salvation with you. 



WHY HALT YE ? 21 3 

I remember one night in Chicago, I had been preach- 
ing upon the life of Jesus Christ for five Sunday nights 
in a large hall that had been built down in the heart of 
the city; I had taken Him from his cradle, and had gone 
right along toward the grave with Him; and the fifth 
Sunday night, I had got Christ into the hands of Pilate, 
and I gave that audience one week to decide what they 
would do with Him. I have made some mistakes in my 
life. I consider that one of the greatest. I would just 
as soon to-night give that right hand as to stand up here 
and say to you what I said to that audience. I said, 
"Now, we want you to take this question home with 
you . We want to have you decide what you will do 
with God's Son." I gave them Pilate's question, "What 
then shall I do with Jesus, which is called Christ?" 
Pilate had Him on his hands, and he had to decide the 
question. The world has God's Son on its hands, and 
you have got to decide what you will do with Him. You 
have either got to say, "Crucify Him! Crucify Him!" 
or receive Him, one thing or the other. I said to this 
audience, "Now, I want you to decide it in the course 
of the week, and next Sunday night I want to have you 
come and let us know what you will do with God's Son." 
I closed that meeting, and while I was closing it a bell 
began to strike within half a block. When I heard that 
church-bell to-night I wondered if it was a fire-bell. The 
great city bell tolled out, you might say, the death knell 
of Chicago that night. It sounded out a general alarm. 
I paid no attention to it. That is quite common in Chi- 
cago. And while I was giving those people a week to 
decide that question, Chicago was burning up; and bo- 
fore twelve o'clock that hall was in ashes; before two 



214 MOODY S SERMONS. 

o'clock the church where I worshiped was in ashes; be- 
fore three o'clock the house that I lived in was in ashes; 
and inside of forty-eight hours from that time a hundred 
thousand people were burned out of house and home. 
It was estimated that a thousand people burned alive that 
night; and right around that hall a good many perished. 
One man crawled into a great water-pipe for refuge and 
roasted alive. I don't know but that very man heard me 
that night when I gave that audience a week to decide 
that question. I never have met them since, probably 
never will on the shores of time. And do you know 
the last hymn that Mr. Sankey sung that night was 

" To-day the Savior calls; 

For refuge fly. 
The storm of vengeance falls, 
And death is nigh." 

It was almost prophetic. His voice never was heard in 
that hall again. We never met on that platform since. 
You say, tl I have time enough to decide this." We sepa- 
rate now. This is the last time, perhaps, my voice will 
ever be heard in this church. • Just before we close, take 
a look round. See how that choir looks. Take a look 
at these ministers sitting on this platform. See how this 
audience looks. We break up in a few minutes, and we 
shall never meet again this side of eternity. Shall we 
meet there at the right hand of God? That is the ques- 
tion. You can decide it to-night. You can set your 
faces like a flint toward heaven. You can settle this 
question, if you will. But if not, if you reject the Son 
of God, and go down to the dark caverns of eternal death, 
I believe you will remember this night. You will re- 
member how this audience looked. You will remember 



WHY HALT YE ? 215 

these ministers on this platform praying for you. Their 
hearts have been going up to God while I have been 
preaching. I have heard their sighs. You are here 
among friends; a praying circle, perhaps, all around you; 
their silent prayers going up to God that you may de- 
cide this question. Dear friends, I want to leave it with 
you. What will you do with Jesus? Will you accept 
Him, or reject Him? Will you say with the Jews, 
" Crucify Him! Crucify Him! " or will you say, " Come 
into this heart to-night and dwell with me?" Come, 
young man, what will you do with this question to-night? 
How long halt ye between two opinions? If the Lord be 
God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him. Let the 
decision be made to-night. Let the news go up on high 
that you will take Jesus Christ as your Savior. 



SON, REMEMBER. 



" Son, remember." — Luke, xvi, 25. 

There is just one thing that this man that we have 
read of to-night in this chapter took away with him, 
and that was his memory. I think it teaches us that 
memory is immortal; that we are going to take memory 
with us into another world. We often hear that passage 
of Scripture quoted about the books being open. I think 
that the " books " we read of are the books of memory. 
I do not know how a man is to give an account unless it 
is from memory. We read that every man shall give an 
account, and if he is going to give an account, if his ac- 
count has not been blotted out by the blood of Christ, 
if he has to give an account of his record, how is he go- 
ing to do it unless he does it from memory? Lord 
Bacon says that there is no thought that ever passed into 
our minds that really is forgotten. ■ We may think we 
have forgotten it; it may have passed, as we say, from 
memory, but the time is coming when it will come back 
again. I believe that memory is "the worm that dieth 
not " that we read of in the Scripture. 

We hear people talk about certain men having won- 
derful memories. I was reading to-night of a man that 
had a wonderful memory. It is said of Cyrus, the Per- 
sian general, that he had such a memory that he could 

216 




The Murder of Abel. Genesis, iv, 1-15. 



SON, REMEMBER. 2IO, 

call by name all the private soldiers in his army. I have 
read of a literary man that could repeat everything that 
he had ever written. Some of us complain about our 
short memories, but I think memory will be long enough 
when God says, "Son, remember!" When conscience 
is thoroughly aroused, and we are thoroughly awake, 
then we cannot help but remember. Memory will do its 
work. Memory is God's officer, and when God touches 
the secret spring and says, "Son, daughter, remember," 
tramp, tramp, tramp, will go the whole life before us. 
Men may plunge into the world, and into amusements; 
men may drink and drown their consciences, and drown 
memory; but the time is coming when we cannot forget; 
the time is coming when memory will do its work, and 
we cannot for a moment forget the past. We talk about 
the recording angel that is keeping men's records. I 
think every man is keeping his own record; we are writ- 
ing up our own biography. God makes every man and 
every woman keep their own records. And each one of 
us to-day has been writing his own record. Day after 
day that record is being written. Some men are very 
anxious that their biography should be written, but every 
man is writing his own biography. He don't need any 
one else to write it. The time is coming when God will 
just change his countenance and send him away, and tell 
him to go and read his own record, read his own life. I 
don't believe that God is going to condemn us; I think 
we will condemn ourselves. We will not need any one 
to condemn us; our own record will condemn us. 

That man that we read of that was at the wedding 
feast was speechless. Men talk now very fluently and 
flippantly about their sins and their life record, but the 



220 MOODY S SERMONS. 

time is coming when God shall say, " Son, daughter, 
remember! " and they will be speechless. There will be 
no apology for the past; no amount of tears and prayers 
can wipe out the past. Man may forgive himself, and 
have a good opinion of himself; and say that his record 
is all right, but that don't help the record after all. It 
is there. It is written, as it were, with a pen of iron. 

I have been twice at the point of death. I was once 
drowning. I had gone down for the second time, and 
was just going down for the third time, and was proba- 
bly within a few minutes of eternity. Although I have 
never been able to explain it, and I can't understand it 
to-day, in the twinkling of an eye, in a second of time, 
everything that I had done, everything that I had said, 
everything that I had thought from the cradle up, came 
flashing into my mind; my whole life came before me. 
How all my life could be crowded into a second of time 
I don't understand. It is gone, and I can't recall it again 
at the present time. I have not any doubt that when 
the time comes, and God says, " Son, remember, " it will 
all come back again. 

There was a man a few years ago in one of our insane 
asylums, walking up and down in the mad-house, and his 
cry was, "If I only had! If I only had!" That was 
his cry from morning to night in all his wakeful hours. 
His story was this: He was employed by a railroad com- 
pany to take care of a swing-bridge, and he got a dis- 
patch from the superintendent that an extra train was 
going to pass over the road, and not to turn the bridge 
until the train had passed. One after another came and 
tried to have him open that swing-bridge, and he refused 
to do it. At last a friend came and over-persuaded him, 



SON, REMEMBER. 221 

and he opened the bridge. He had no more than got it 
open before he heard the train coming. There was not 
time enough to close it, and he saw that train leap with 
all its living freight into that abyss of death. His reason 
reeled and tottered upon its throne, and the man went 
mad. His cry was, " If I only had! If I only had!" 
I cannot but believe to-night that there is many a man 
in the other world whose cry is, * * If I only had! If I 
only had!" Memory is at work. They have taken their 
memories with them. This is clearly taught in this pas- 
sage that we have here. 

I have been very much interested in reading the papers 
during the past forty-eight hours. There is one man away 
across the sea that my heart aches for. He is a stranger 
to me. When I took up the papers and read about that 
man's confession across the sea, how he confessed that 
he killed a man in Cleveland in 1872, my mind went 
over those six years and I said, ' ' How much has that man 
suffered during the past six years. " Memory had done 
its work. He covered up the sin. He thought it was 
concealed. He thought it would never come to light. 
Six years and upward have rolled away, and the thing 
has not been brought to light; but at last his own con- 
science, if the report is true, has turned witness against 
him. 

You very often take up the papers, and you read, 
" Murder will out." What does that mean? Memory 
has become aroused. There is a man sitting on this 
platform to-night that was telling me this afternoon of a 
case right here in this city of a man he went to visit in 
the jail. He was there awaiting his trial. He was ac- 
cused of murder; but hardly any one believed that he 



222 MOODY S SERMONS. 

was guilty. But in that cell he confessed to this minister 
that is on this platform that he had done the deed; and 
when this minister went out and told his friends, they 
said it was impossible; he could not have done it. He 
went back, and the man told him he did the deed, and 
explained how he did it; and the reason that he made 
that confession was, he said he wanted to get away from 
himself. That is it. He wanted to get away from him- 
self. That means that he wanted to get away from that 
past record. It was black; it was dark; it was vile. How 
it is that men dare to sin, and laugh at sin, and mock at 
sin, with eternity opening up before them, is one of the 
greatest mysteries of the day. They talk about the mys- 
tery of godliness, but that men will trifle with sin, and 
mock and laugh at sin, is a greater mystery. 

It was not long ago that I read in the paper of a dea- 
con who was on his way to church to worship; and a 
young man came out of a drinking saloon, mounted his 
horse and rode up to the deacon, and said to him, " Can 
you tell me how far it is to hell?" in a sneering, scoffing 
way. The deacon felt it so keenly he did not answer. 
The man rode on, turned the corner, and went out of 
sight. But when the deacon came to turn that corner 
he found that the young man had only gone a few rods 
around the corner. The horse had thrown him, and he 
had gone into eternity. 

O, how men mock at hell! How men mock at God! 
It is a mystery to me. " Son," God says, " Remember," 
O, that memory may do its work to-night, that our con- 
science may be thoroughly aroused! 

I want to ask this congregation one question. Do you 
believe that Cain has forgotten that sin that occurred 



SON, REMEMBER. 223 

outside of Eden? Do you believe that Cain has forgotten 
that cry of Abel? Do you believe that all these six 
thousand years Cain has forgotten how Abel looked when 
he plead with him not to take his life? Do you believe 
that Cain has forgotten that cry that came from that 
brother that loved him to spare his life? Do you believe 
that Cain has forgotten how the first murdered man 
looked? Do you believe he hac forgotten how that 
human blood looked? These six thousand years have 
rolled away, and I believe that Cain has not forgotten it. 
He has taken memory into the other world with him. 

Do you believe those antediluvians have forgotten how 
Noah plead with them, and when he preached righteous- 
ness how they mocked and scoffed and ridiculed? 

Do you believe Judas has forgotten all these long 
years how Christ looked at him when he said, " Judas, 
betrayest thou the Master with a kiss ?" I believe that is 
what makes hell terrible to Judas. He can remember 
the words of the Lord Jesus. He can remember how 
Christ looked at him. He can remember the kindness 
and love he had received from that loving Savior. 

You go down here to yonder prison and ask those 
men in the cells of that prison what makes that prison 
so terrible to them, and they will not tell you it is the 
narrow walls; they will not tell you it is those iron grates; 
they will not tell you that it is because that they are de- 
prived of their liberty; they will not tell you that it is the 
prison garb and prison food. That is not what makes 
prison life so terrible. It is memory. It is memory! I 
preached seven months to the prisoners in the Maryland 
penitentiary, and I talked with a great many of them. A 
number of them told me that what made life so terrible 



224 Moody's sermons. 

there was memory. Their minds went back to their 
early childhood; they remembered their loving parents; 
they remembered their home, and they remembered 
what they might have been; how their hopes and pros- 
pects in life were all blasted. That is what makes prison 
life so terrible to these men. And what makes life so 
bitter to many in this assembly? It is the record that is 
behind them. They try to drown it. They try to for- 
get it. But, my friends, the time is coming when God 
will say, "Son, remember." And you can't get away 
from that record. You can't get away from memory. It 
will live. You may be very forgetful now. I may be 
talking to some libertine in this house to-night that has 
ruined some fair young lady, like the one we read of in 
Cincinnati. He may go on unpunished. He laughs at 
the law. The law can't touch him. But bear in mind 
there is a law of equity in heaven, a God of equity, a 
God of justice; and by-and-by He will say to that young 
man, " Remember how you blasted the life of one that 
was fair and beautiful, how you led her from the path of 
virtue and purity;" and God will bring him into judg- 
ment. "Son, remember." You may go on in your 
pleasure; you may go on in your amusements, laughing 
and scoffing at God and the Bible; but there is a God in 
the heavens, and His eye is going to-and-fro through the 
earth, and He marks the man of iniquity. Don't think 
for a moment these things can be covered up, and that 
they will not overtake you. " Be sure your sin will find 
you out." 

I was reading not more than a month ago of a man 
in your neighboring state of Pennsylvania. In 1866 
there were two men that had a falling out at a dance, 



SON, REMEMBER. 22 5 

and soon after one of them was missing. Search was 
made, and he could not be found. A number of years 
after, the one that survived him went mad, and he went 
up into a mining district where there was a shaft down 
in the earth, and as he would look at that shaft he 
would cry, "There! There! There he goes! See him." 
And they took him to the mad-house and locked him 
up, and he died. A little while ago, they found the 
skeleton of a man down in that pit, and it is supposed 
that he pushed him in. Memory began to do its work, 
and it drove the man mad. Don't think that you can 
go on sinning day after day, that it is a light matter, that 
God is not going to bring you into judgment. It is a 
terrible thing. Sin is an awful thing. The longer I 
live, the more I am convinced that we do not preach 
against sin enough. May God help us, as ministers of 
the gospel, to preach against sin that is marring so many 
lives, that is blasting so many bright prospects, that is 
taking the fairest young men that we have to-day into 
crime, that is going to make their lives dark and bitter, 
and that is going to make them curse the day that they 
were born. They laugh at us now when we warn them. 
They mock, and they ridicule. But, young man, I tell 
you to-night as a friend, if you take warning you will 
thank us for warning you, and if you take not warning 
to-night, but go on in your sin, you will regret this night. 
You will regret it. The time is not far distant. In some 
unguarded moment, perhaps in some drunken spree, you 
may commit an act that will blast your life for time and 
eternity. You may not intend to do it, but when Satan 
has possession of a man, how he leads him on from step 
to step until he has ruined him! And I want to say to 



226 Moody's sermons. 

you men and you women who are out of Christ that it is 
very easy for you to come here into this tabernacle to- 
night and sit here and ridicule and make light of every- 
thing that you hear. You may listen to the sermon, but 
in a few minutes after this sermon is preached, and you 
get up and go out, you can laugh at and ridicule every- 
thing you have heard. To me one of the most painful 
things that I have to endure is after a solemn meeting, 
when it seems as if God Almighty is in our midst, as if 
God was just at work, to go out and to hear the levity 
and the jokes, and to hear people laughing away the im-' 
pression. O, may God impress us to-night for eternity! 
May the work be deep and thorough, so that we cannot 
get the arrow out of our hearts! I want to say to you 
that have friends that love you, friends that pray for you, 
and friends that care for your eternal welfare, treat them 
kindly. You will not have them with you in the other 
world. There will be no Savior in that world you are 
going to. There will be no praying mother that will 
plead for you and plead with you, and pray for you. 
There will be no praying mothers there. There will be 
no godly, praying, sainted wives in that world you are 
hastening to. You may make light of them here. You 
may mock at their prayers and ridicule all their offers of 
mercy, but bear in mind there will be no godly, praying 
wife in that world you are going to; no Savior coming to 
offer you salvation; knocking at the door of your heart 
for admittance. He does not pass that way. You may 
come here and hear that beautiful hymn, "Jesus of 
Nazareth Passeth By," but He does not pass that way. 
You may hear this beautiful hymn, "Waiting and 
Watching," and you may know that now you have an 



SON, REMEMBER. 227 

opportunity to join that heavenly throng, but the time 
is coming when that gulf will be fixed, and there will be 
no such thing as your meeting those loved ones that have 
gone into that world of light and love and joy. Yes, it 
is a solemn thing to come into a place like this, and to 
have Christ offered to you, and the claims of the gospel 
pressed upon you, and you are urged to accept salvation, 
and you reject it. 

I remember a few years ago in one of our meetings, in 
Chicago, the Spirit of God was at work. There were 
some inquiring the way of life, and there was a man in 
the assembly I had been anxious for a great many 
months, and when I asked all those who would like to 
become Christians to rise, this man rose. My heart 
leaped in me for joy, and when the meeting was over, I 
went to him, took him by the hand and said to him. 
" Well, now you are coming out for Christ, ain't you? 
" Well," said he, " Mr. Moody, I want to be a Christian 
but there is one thing that stands in my way." * ' What 
is that?" "Well," says he, "I have not the moral 
courage," and I believe in my soul to-night that is the 
thing that is keeping men from coming to Christ more 
than any other one thing. They lack the moral courage 
to come out from their scoffing, sneering friends. ' ' Well, '' 
I said, "if heaven is what it is represented to be, it is 
surely worth your coming out and confessing Christ, and 
being laughed at for a little while down here." He drop- 
ped his head and said, "I know it, I believe it, but," 
naming a certain friend of his, " if he had been here to- 
night, I should not have risen. I looked around to see if 
he was here, and when I found he was not, I rose for 
prayers. I am afraid if I meet him, and he finds out I 



228 Moody's sermons. 

have risen, he will laugh at me, and I will not have the 
courage to stand up for what is right; and I know I can 
not be a Christian unless I deny myself, and take up my 
cross and come out." I said, "You are quite right." 
The poor man was trembling from head to foot. I 
thought surely he would come out on the Lord's side. 
Like Agrippa, he was almost persuaded. I thought surely 
that night he would settle the question, perhaps in his 
own home, and the next night I would find him rejoicing 
in the Savior. But he came back the next night, and I 
found he was in the same state of mind. The spirit was 
still striving with him. He was almost persuaded, but 
not altogether. The next night he came again, and I 
found him in the same state of mind. And the only 
thing that man gave as an excuse for not becoming a 
Christian, was that he had not the moral courage. 

John Bunyan describes one coming up to the gate of 
heaven, and there was a side way down to the gate of the 
pit, and many of them took that side way. It seems this 
man came to the gate of heaven, and one step more would 
have taken him across the line. But this man-fearing 
spirit kept him from taking that step. Almost, yet not 
altogether. Well, weeks rolled away, and the impres- 
sion seemed to pass away. You know that is the thing 
they bring against these special meetings. They say it 
hardens some people. That is quite right. The gospel 
proves a savor of life unto life, or a savor of death unto 
death. Every time you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ 
preached, and Christ is offered to you, and you reject 
him, the hardening process is going on. Every time you 
turn your back upon this offer, your heart is becoming 
hard. Many a man in this congregation would have been 



SON, REMEMBER. 229 

impressed ten years ago by a sermon which made no im- 
pression on him now. The hardening process has been 
going on. They have become not only neglectors of sal- 
vation, but they despise it. They not only refuse it, but 
they despise the God of salvation. Well, the hardening 
process went on with this man. He used to come to 
church every Sunday morning, but now he dropped off 
and did not come at all. He would be at work Sunday, 
and if I met him coming down the street he would slip 
off down some other way, ashamed to meet me, afraid I 
would talk with him. At last he was taken sick and sent 
for me. I went to see him and he said to me, " Is there 
any hope for a man to be saved at the eleventh hour? " 
I told him there was hope for any man who really wanted 
to become a Christian. I preached Christ to him, ex- 
plained to him the way of life, told him how he could be 
saved. I went down to see him day after day. Con- 
trary to all expectations the man began to recover. 
When he got up from that sick bed, I went down one 
day and found him convalescent, sitting in front of his 
house. I took my seat beside him and said, " Well, 
now you will be well enough to come up to church in a 
few days, and when you are well enough you are coming 
out to confess Christ, and take your stand for Christ." 
''Well," says he, " I have made up my mind to become 
a Christian, but I am not going to become one just now. 
Next spring I am going over Lake Michigan, and I am 
going to buy me a farm and settle down, and then I am 
going to become a Christian; but there is no use of my 
talking of becoming a Christian here in Chicago. I can't 
do it. I have so many bad associates I can't live a 
Christian life in Chicago." " Well," I said, ' ' my friend, 



230 Moody's sermons. 

if God hasn't got grace enough to keep you in Chicago, 
He hasn't got enough to keep you in Michigan. What 
you want is not a change of associates, but a new heart, 
and the grace of God to keep you. He is able to keep 
you." I plead with him not to postpone this great ques- 
tion any longer. I tried to arouse him up. At last he 
got a little worried and a little cross at me, and says, 
11 Mr. Moody, you can just attend to your own business, 
and I will attend to mine. I don't want you to trouble 
yourself any more about my soul. I will attend to that." 
I said, " You can't afford to put this thing off." l< Well," 
he says, " if I am lost it will not be your fault. You 
have done everything you can. I don't want you to 
trouble yourself any more." When I hear people say in 
these meetings, " I don't want you to trouble me," it 
sends a pang into my heart, when we try to do you good 
and bring you a blessing, to have you to turn your back 
and say, "I don't want Christ. I have no desire for 
Him." 

This man said, " I will take the risk." I was telling 
him he could not afford to take the risk, he said, " I will 
take it." I would like to ask if there is a man in this 
house to-night that will take the risk of his soul's salva- 
tion for twenty-four hours. Dare you say, " I will take 
it? " It was a number of months he was going to take 
it. When he got over to Michigan on his farm and got 
settled down, he was going to become a Christian. I 
tried to arouse him; he got angry, and I left him. If 
ever I left a man with a sad heart it was when I left that 
man. I remember the day of the week. It was Friday. 
It was about noon that I left him. Just a week from 
that day I got a message from his wife. She wanted to 



SON, REMEMBER. 23 1 

have me come in great haste. I went to the house and 
I met her at the door weeping. I said, ' ' What is the 
trouble?" "My husband has been taken down with the 
same disease. We have just had a council of physicians, 
and they have all given him up to die. " 

I said, " Does he want to see me?" knowing how angry 
he was only the week before. She said, " No. I asked 
him if I should not send for you, and he said no, he did 
not want to see you." "Well, why did you send?" 
" Well, I can't bear to see him die in this terrible state 
of mind." "What is his state of mind?" "He says 
his damnation is sealed, and that he will be in hell in a 
little while." [ went into the room where he was, and 
the moment he heard the door open he looked and saw 
who it was, and he turned his face to the wall. I went 
to the bed and spoke to him, and he did not answer. I 
said, "Won't you speak to me?" I went around to the 
foot of the bed where I could look at him, and said 
again, "Won't you speak to me?" He turned and looked 
at me, and what a look it was! He said, "You need 
not talk to me any more, sir. My damnation is sealed. 
There is no hope for me." I tried to tell him there was, 
but he ridiculed the idea that there was any hope for 
him. Memory had begun to do its work. His whole 
life came up before him, and he said, "I have done 
nothing but sin against God all my life; and a week ago 
when you were here and I thought I was going to get 
well, I turned away from God. He came knocking at 
the door of my heart. I told Him, if He would spare my 
life, I would let Him in. And He took me at my word. 
But the moment I got up I turned my back upon Him. 
There is no hope for me. You need not talk to me. 



232 MOODY'S SERMONS. 

You need not pray for me. You cannot save me, sir* 
There is no hope for me. I have got to die in my sins. 
There is no chance for my soul." I tried to tell him 
there was. He pointed his finger at the stove and said, 
11 My heart is as hard as the iron in that stove. There 
is no hope for me." I went to get down on my knees, 
and when he saw me kneel he said, "Mr. Moody, you 
need not pray for me. You can pray for my wife and 
children. They need your prayers and sympathies. You 
need not spend your time praying for me. There is no 
hope for me." I tried to pray for him, but it seemed as 
if my prayers did not go any higher than my head. I 
got up and took his hand, and it seemed as if I was bid- 
ding farewell to a friend that I never would see again in 
time or eternity. The cold, clammy sweat of night was 
gathering on that hand. I bade him a final farewell. I 
I left his house about noon. He lingered until the sun 
went down behind those western prairies, and his wife 
told me that from the time I left him until he died, all 
she heard was, ' ' The harvest is past, the summer is 
ended, and I am not saved." You could hear his cries 
all over the house. Just as the sun was going down, he 
was sinking away into the arms of death, and his wife 
noticed his lips quivering. He was trying to say some- 
thing. She bent over, and all she could hear was that 
awful lamentation of the prophet, " The harvest is past, 
the summer is ended, and I am not saved," and he passed 
away. He lived a Christless life; he died a Christless 
death; we wrappedhim in a Christless shroud, and laid 
him in a Christless coffin. How dark! How sad! The 
sin of procrastination! 

O my friends, this night be wise. Ask God this 
night and this hour to forgive you. Make up your minds 
that you will this night settle this question for time and 
eternity. 




Joseph Sold into Egypt. Genesis, xxxvii. 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 



You will find my text, this evening, in the sixth chap- 
ter of Galatians, the seventh and eighth verses, "Be not 
deceived; God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man sow- 
eth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his 
flesh, shall of the flesh, reap corruption; but he that sow- 
eth to the spirit, shall of the spirit, reap life everlasting." 

When Mr. Sankey was singing that hymn to-night, 
about sowing the seed, I thought of a meeting we had in 
Chicago, three years ago, this month. There was a poor 
man came into that meeting, discouraged, disheartened. 
He had run away from his friends, in the hope that he 
might come to Chicago, and die in the gutter. He had 
given up all hope of becoming a sober man. He was the 
son of a good man; he was the husband of a lovely wife; 
he was the father of two beautiful daughters. But he 
had become such a slave to strong drink, that he had 
given up all hope. That night, he came into the taber- 
nacle, because it was cold, and he wanted to get into a 
warm place. He went up into the gallery and got behind 
a post, and he said, as the people came in, well dressed, 
and looking so happy, he looked down upon them and 
gnashed his teeth, and cursed the day that he was born. 
At last, Mr. Sankey struck up that hymn, "Sowing the 
seed." The man said he did not take any interest in 

235 



236 Moody's sermons. 

the singing, until he came to the third verse, and that 
was the verse that reached him. And, when Mr. Sankey 
was singing to-night, I was in hopes it would reach some 
one else. Let me read you the verse that God used to 
rouse that man. 

' 'Sowing the seed of a lingering pain, 
Sowing the seed of a maddened brain, 
Sowing the seed of a tarnished name, 
Sowing the seed of eternal shame ! 
O, what shall the harvest be ?" 

Three years have rolled away. One of the most effi- 
cient workers to-day, in Chicago, is that man. I have 
seen him move an audience, as I think, I never saw an 
audience moved. God reached very low when he picked 
him up. His wife and children are with him now — a 
happy home. I hope God will rouse some one here to- 
night. I hope there will be some one aroused, to-night, 
by the Spirit of God. And I want to say, to you Chris- 
tians, that if you pray and are looking right up to God for 
power to-night, there may be some one convicted. The 
sermon is not going to convict anyone. It is the Spirit 
of God that convicts men of sin. Man has not the power 
to rouse men. He can speak to the outward ear, but 
God has got to speak to the ear of the soul. God has 
got to make these dead souls live. What we want is the 
Holy Ghost power here to-night. 

I remember the first time I ever preached from that 
text was in the city of Boston. I commenced, "Be not 
deceived, " and I pointed down in the audience and said, 
"Young man, 'be not deceived !' " and a man had been 
coming there for two weeks; he had just come, he said, 
gut of curiosity. He had lost all hope. He was a poor 



BE NOT DEEIVCED. 237 

prodigal, turned out of his own home, and a wanderer in 
the city of Boston. But God had used just these words, 
''Be not deceived," and he waked up to the fact, that he 
had been deceived. From his childhood, all along up, he 
had been deceived, and that young man became a Chris- 
tian; and when I was at Cooper Institute, two weeks ago 
to-night, I found him clothed and in his right mind. He 
had been working for Jesus Christ all these months, and 
now he is a very efficient worker. 

My friends, let us pray to-night that the text may do 
its work. The sermon is of very little account after all. 
It is the text we want. The sermon is just to drive the 
nail. And now, never mind the sermon, but pray God 
to carry the text down into the hearts of the people. In- 
fidels and skeptics tell us the word is not true; but who 
can deny that text? " Be not deceived; God is not mocked. 
Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." We 
can see that all adout us. A man is doubly blind that cannot 
see that fulfilled every day. These gray-haired men know 
that; they have lived long enough to see men reaping, 
to-day, what they have sown. " Be not deceived!" It is 
a decree of high heaven that a man must reap what he 
sows. These farmers, when they sow, expect to reap. 
A man learns a trade. He is learning that trade, because 
he expects to reap, by-and-by, a harvest. A man that is 
toiling hard to get a profession— you take some of these 
lawyers, that have toiled ten or fifteen years; they expect 
by-and-by, a harvest. They expect it. That is what 
they are sowing for. You take some of these medical men ; 
they commenced practice, and they have hard work for 
years to get a-going; and some people say, " Why don't 
you give it up?" "Why," they say, u I expect to reap 



238 

by-and-by." They are looking forward to the reaping 
time. They are just laying the foundation, sowing the 
seed, but they say, "I expect to reap by-and-by." 

Then there is another thing; a man expects to reap 
the same kind of seed that he sows. " Whatsoever a 
man soweth, that shall he also reap." If a man sows 
wheat, he does not look for watermelons. If a man 
plants potatoes, he does not look for grapes; he expects 
to dig potatoes. If he sows wheat, he looks for wheat; 
he does not look for oats; he does not look for anything 
else but wheat. He expects to reap the same kind of 
seed that he sows. 

Well, now, that is true in the natural world, and, my 
friends, it is true in the spiritual world. A young man 
says, in a flippant, fluent way, that he is just sowing hi s 
wild oats; he is a young man. He forgets that it is a 
decree of high heaven that he has got to reap those wild 
oats. It is no laughing matter. It is astonishing, just 
to see men hold their heads up with a scorning look, and 
say, "O, well, we are young men now, and you know we 
must have our time, sowing our wild oats. We must 
have a little of the world, and see a little of its pleasures;'' 
but they seem to forget, that if they sow to the wind, 
they must reap to the whirlwind. 

And you will find that this runs all through life. You 
let me be a deceitful man, and let me deceive others, and 
I will be paid back in my own coin; others will deceive 
me. You let me teach my children to disobey God, and 
they will turn around and disobey me. Many a man has 
got a broken heart, because he taught his children to be 
disloyal to God, and they have turned around and been 
disloyal to him. God knows that, and He tells us to 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 239 

train our children to honor him, so they may honor us 
in our old age. I have a case in my mind now, where a 
man reaped just the same kind of seed that he sowed. 
He was a wealthy man. He was what the world would 
call a prosperous man. He had a good bar, and right 
near him lived a widow, with an only son, and that son 
was enticed into that place, night after night, and at last 
he came home drunk. When the widow waked up to the 
fact that her only son was becoming a drunkard, she 
went to that rum seller, and begged him not to sell her 
boy any more liquor; and he told her to mind her own 
business, and he would mind his; that he would sell to 
whom he pleased; he had a license, and he would go on 
selling. And he did continue selling to that boy, until 
at last, he went down to a drunkard's grave; and that 
gray-haired mother is now tottering upon the brink of the 
grave, with a broken heart. But it was not five years, 
before that rumseller's only son, in a drunken spree, put 
a revolver to his head, and blew out his brains; and that 
father went down to his grave with a broken heart. He 
had to reap just what he sowed. If I sell another man's 
son rum and ruin him, some one will ruin my boy; that 
is a decree of heaven. You cannot get around it. It is 
madness for a man to shut his eyes to these facts. You 
can close up the Bible and see this constantly carried 
out. 

I remember reading in history, in the days of Louis 
XI, he had a cruel, wicked bishop, that was persecuting 
some of the saints of the Most High God; and the king 
wanted to know how he could make their punishment 
more cruel and bitter. "Well," said the bishop, "make 
them a cage, and have it so short and narrow they can- 



240 MOODY S SERMONS. 

not lie down, and so low they cannot stand straight, and 
they will be in a bent position, all the while." The king 
ordered the cage made, and the very first one that went 
into that cage was that bishop himself. He had offended 
the king, before he got the cage finished; and for four- 
teen long years, the king kept him in that cage. He had 
to reap what he sowed. 

Another thing, when a man sows, he expects to reap 
more than he sows. You sow a handful of grain, and 
you will reap a bushel. Some men think, that it is pret- 
ty hard to have to reap more than they sow. But, then, 
you ought to think of that, when you are sowing. That 
is a law of nature. You must reap more than you sow. 
Why, many a man has brought ruin upon himself and 
his whole family by one act, for just one night's pleasure; 
and he blasted his reputation, his character, and the 
hopes of his friends — all gone. Sometimes a man has 
to reap when he sows; it comes quick; judgment follows, 
right on after the act; as in the case of Judas, and of 
Cain. Sometimes, as I said last night, sentence is de- 
layed, but it is surely coming. There is one thing a man 
can always count on, and that is, that his sin will over- 
take him. 

The Bible says, "Be sure your sin will find you out." 
A man may laugh at that and say, ' T will cover up my 
tracks, so they cannot find me out. I will bury the 
deed so deep that it shall never have a resurrection." 
Young man, "Be not deceived; God is not mocked; what- 
soever a man soweth, that shall he also reap." You may 
sow it in darkness, and you may say that no eye has 
seen you; but God has seen you; His eyes go to and fro 
through the earth. He knows what the sons of men are 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 24.I 

doing, and you cannot deceive Him. I will venture to 
say there is not a man or woman in this audience to- 
night but has been deceived. You know what it is to 
be deceived. You have been deceived by some of your 
neighbors. You have been deceived and "taken in," as 
you call it, by some stranger that has come along. You 
know what it is to be deceived. There is not a man or 
woman in this audience but what has been deceived. 
You have been deceived by some bosom friend, by some 
brother or first cousin, perhaps. But more than that, 
you have been deceived by your own heart. I will ven- 
ture to say, we have been deceived, more by our own 
treacherous hearts than anything else." " The heart is de 
ceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." There- 
fore, if a man is guided by his own dark mind and dark 
heart, he will be led astray. What we want, is not to be 
deceived by our own heart. God does not deceive us, 
and He does not want us to attempt to deceive Him. ' Be 
not deceived. God is not mocked." When man sins, it 
is known. God knows it. It is blindness and folly for 
him to think it will never come to light. It may be 
twenty years afterwards; but sin will overtake him as it 
did Jacob. Look at those sons of Jacob, when Joseph 
was taken and thrown into prison. "We do remember 
our fault this day, how Our loved brother Joseph pleaded." 
Twenty long years had rolled away, and their sin had 
overtaken them in a strange land. Be sure that your sin, 
young man, will find you out. It may be, this very day, 
you took out of your employer's till twenty-five cents. 
Perhaps last week, you took fifty cents, and went to the 
theater with it. But you say, "I will put it back some 
time." That is the way these defaulters begin. That is 



242 Moody's sermons. 

the way forgers begin. Men don't go to a precipice and 
jump down. They come down step by step. It is these 
little things, twenty-five cents or a dollar. You say, I 
can replace that anytime; that don't amount to anything." 
Ah, my friends, "Be not deceived." A man that steals 
twenty-five cents is just as much of a thief as one that 
steals $5,000. He has made his conscience guilty. He 
is not the man he was before he took it. He is laying a 
bad foundation, and if he attempts to build on that 
foundation the structure will fall. 

When we were in New York City, a man came up 
from the boat to the hippodrome. He was out of mon- 
ey, had no friends, and was a perfect stranger. He was 
a fine looking young man, and I said to him, "How is 
this? How is it you come over here, a perfect stranger; 
without money, and without friends? " The poor fellow 
took me off to one side, and told me the story. He 
said he had held a high position in England, but one 
night he was out gambling with his employer's money; 
he was the confidential man, and carried the money that 
belonged to his employers; these men that were gambling 
with him got him drunk, and he gambled away all of 
his employer's money, and the only thing for him to do 
was to go to prison or escape — flee to this country. I 
talked to him and found he had left a beautiful wife and 
a beautiful family of children. I said, "How is it? Do 
they know where you are? " "No,"saidhe, "theydon't." 
I said, "Was that not pretty hard?" The poor man 
wrung his hands, and says, "I am broken-hearted; not 
only, my own character gone, but brought ruin upon my 
wife and children." Ah, just one night's pleasure, one 
night in that gambling den, and he was stripped of all, 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 243 

There was a stain, and he could not wipe it out. God in 
mercy forgave him, but at the same time, a man has got 
to reap what he sows. I can imagine I hear some one 
say, "I would like to hear you explain that — if Jesus 
Christ forgives, how is it a man has got to reap what he 
sows? " 

You know the Bible tells us the penalty of sin is death 
— the soul that sinneth, it shall die. Now, Christ will 
meet that penalty, because he will save my soul; but, at 
the same time, if God forgives me, I have to reap what 
I sow; for instance, I send a man out to sow wheat, and 
he gets mad at me and sows thistles. When the reaping 
time comes, I ask him, "Do you know anything about 
these thistles?" and he says, "Mr. Moody, I got mad at 
you that day when you sent me out to sow wheat, and I 
sowed thistles; I am very sorry, will you forgive me?" I 
will forgive you, but I tell you, when you reap that wheat 
you will have to reap thistles too. God may forgive a 
man, but at the same time, he has got to reap what he 
sows. One act may make me reap all the rest of my 
days with sorrow, with shame. God may forgive me, yet 
I have to reap. I think I can make that still plainer. 
When we were preaching in the tabernacle, in Chicago, 
one night, a young man came into the inquiry-room, a 
fine looking young man. The minister tried to talk to 
him, but he did not seem to open up. The minister said 
to me, ' ' I wish you would come and see this young man. " 
I went down and sat down by his side. The poor fellow 
trembled. He was greatly agitated. I could not talk 
v/iin him as mucn as L would like to, so I said, "I wish 
you would come to-morrow at one o'clock, at the close 
of the noon meeting. " At one o'clock, that young man 



244 Moody's sermons. 

was there. He was from Ohio, not far from Cleveland. 
He went on and told me his history. He told me he was 
a telegraph operator. The boys in the express office 
where they officed and himself used to meet nights and 
play cards. One night they suggested they would break 
into the express office, out for fun. He said, at last, 
they broke into the express office. He was arrested, 
tried and acquitted. When they found him innocent, 
they took him right up in their arms and carried him out 
in the street, and just cheered and cheered. He said 
it went like a hot iron into his soul. He said he was 
guilty, and for seven months he had not known what 
peace was. Now, says he, "I would like to know if I 
can become a Christian, without giving myself up to the 
law and confessing my guilt." I said, " I never like to ad- 
vise a man to do what I would not do myself, and I dont 
know what I would do if I was in that situation. But 
it is always safe to ask God. Let us get down and pray 
about this matter." We got down, and I prayed, and the 
minister that was with us prayed, and then we asked this 
young man to pray. He said, " No, sir." Said I, " Why 
not?" "I know what that means; if I pray, I have to 
give myself up to the law." Said I, "My friend, it is al- 
ways safe to do what God wants you to do. You had 
better ask Him for guidance." At last, the young man 
opened his lips in prayer. After prayer, he said, "Well, 
gentlemen, I thank you for the interest you have taken 
in me. My duty is very plain. I will submit to the 
law. I am going down to Ohio to give myself up." He 
took the train that afternoon. When he got about fifty 
miles out of the city, he sent me back a dispatch that he 
had set his face to do right, and God revealed Himself 



BE NOT DECEIVED. 245 

to him and the Lord blessed him on the train. And he 
came down home. I wish I had the letter he wrote me. 
I think I never wept so much over a letter as I did over 
that. He had a Christian mother down here, not far 
from Cleveland, and father, and there were eight broth- 
ers and sisters. When he got home, they were all glad 
to see him. They had not seen him for seven months. 
He said that evening, after they had all got in the house 
and quiet, he just told them how God had met him, and 
how he was then coming home to confess his guilt. His 
father and mother and family thought him innocent up 
to that night; but he said, "I stole that money, and I 
am a perjured man; I am on my way now to give my- 
self up to the law." He says to his father, "I know I 
have brought disgrace upon you. I have done wrong. I 
want you to forgive me." The old man says, "Yes, I will 
forgive you. " He said to his mother, ' ' Can you forgive me, 
can you forgive your boy ?" The mother said, " Yes, I will 
forgive you, my son," and the brothers and sisters all said 
they would forgive him. Then he got down and prayed, 
the first prayer he had made, except the one he had made 
there in Chicago, the next morning he left that home 
of weeping and gave himself up to the law. He 
was tried at Akron, and sent to the penitentiary. 
His mother was taken down some time after with 
Typhoid fever, and the boy could not go to see 
the mother. Tell me that he did not have to reap 
what he sowed. Tell me that the reaping was not fear- 
ful ! That godly, praying mother, dying in his own 
state, and he could not go to see her. Though God in 
His infinite mercy had forgiven him, yet the boy had to 
reap what he sowed. He had sowed to the wind and was 



246 Moody's sermons. 

reaping the whirlwind. Don't make light of sin. Sin is 
a fearful thing. It makes life so dark. At last, the fa- 
ther was taken down with typhoid fever, and it was 
thought he was dying, and some Cleveland men went to 
the governor of the state, and the first pardon, your 
present governor granted was for that young man. 
When he got out, he telegraphed me that he had got 
his release and went home to nurse his father, and, as he 
supposed, to see him die. But the father recovered. 
Then a brother was taken down. He watched over that 
brother, and the brother died. At last, this young man 
was taken down and when he was given up to die, he 
asked that the Christians of that town should come to 
his bedside to pray with him; and he lifted up his voice 
in prayer, and in a little while he passed away, and he is in 
the world of light to-night. The poor boy has had to 
reap. Do you think he ever forgave himself? God for- 
gave him, but he did not forgive himself. It is a fearful 
thing to sow wild oats. You will laugh at it now, but 
the reaping time is coming by-and-by, and there will be 
no laughing when the reaping time comes. Cain would 
have liked to change places with Abel when the 
reaping time came. Do you think Ahab would not like 
to take Elijah's place. If a man goes on sowing, he has 
got to reap. If he don't reap here, he has got to reap 
hereafter, because it is a decree of high heaven, "What- 
soever a man soweth, that he shall also reap." 

O friends, I beg of you to-night be wise and turn from 
sin; hate it with a perfect hatred; ask God this night to 
forgive you and help you to do right, because he wants 
you to do right. 




The Betrayal. Luke, xxii. 



LOVE. 



You can find my text to-night almost anywhere in the 
Bible. My text is "Love," the "Love of God." This 
fourth chapter of John's epistle, that I have read to- 
night, says, "God is love," and I don't know of any 
truth that Satan is more anxious to blot out of the Bible, 
than that one thing, that "God is Love." If I could 
convince the world that God loves them, I think I would 
not preach anything else, but just the love of God. I 
would go up and down this nation, and tell it out in 
town and cities and villages. The enemy of righteous- 
ness is deceiving the world upon this point. Man has a 
false idea about God. He has an idea that God hates 
him because he is a sinner; he has an idea that God is 
angry with him and don't love him. 

I remember, a few years ago, we put up a church in 
Chicago, in the heart of the city, where the churches 
had been moved away, and left a large class of people. 
There was a Christian man there that helped me put 
the building up, and he was anxious that people should 
believe that God was love. He was so afraid that I 
would not preach it enough that he had it put back of 
the pulpit, in gas jets, "God is Love." He thought, if 
I could not preach it into the hearts of the people, he 
would try and burn it in. 

249 



2 $0 Moody's sermons. 

I remember, one night, while I was preaching, a poor 
fellow was going by, half under the influence of liquor. 
The door was ajar, and he looked in and saw the text, 
"God is love," and he kept saying, " God is not love, 
It is not true. It is a. lie." He went on for a block or 
two, and came back and took a seat away back by the 
door, and when I was preaching, the poor fellow was 
weeping. After the sermon was over, I went down and 
talked with him. I found that the spirit of God was 
working with him, and I tried to find out what part of 
the sermon had touched him, and he said he did not 
know a thing I said. ' ' What were you doing here, you 
did not know a thing I said?" "Ah, sir, that text up 
there, "God is love," melted my heart." And he got 
down on his knees with me, and made a surrender to the 
God of love. 

Now, to-night you may ask me, " Why does God love 
those who are not worthy of His love? Why does He 
love the unlovely? " Well, I don't know that I can an- 
swer that any better than by saying, why does the sun 
shine? Because it can't help it. Why does God love? 
Because He can't help it. That is His nature. He 
is love, and there is not a man on the face of the earth 
to-night that God don't love. God hates sin, but he 
makes a distinction between sin and sinner. God loves 
the sinner, but He is at war with sin, because He knows 
that sin mars our happiness. Because He loves us He 
wants us to forsake sin and turn from it. I think one 
reason we are so blind to the word of God is, that we 
are alwavs measuring God bv our rule. We love a man 
as long as he is worthy of our love, and when he ceases 
to be worthy of our love we cast him off. Not so with 



LOVE. 251 

God. We must not measure God with our rule. God's 
love is unchangeable. 

I will call your attention to the first verse of the thir- 
teenth chapter of John. " Now, before the feast of the 
passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that 
He should depart out of the world unto the Father, hav- 
ing loved His own which were in the world He loved 
them unto the end." Now that very night they were to 
forsake Him. That very night, Judas was to betray Him, 
for thirty pieces of silver. That very night, Peter was to 
deny Him, and swear he never knew Him. Yet we are 
told, that on that memorable night, Christ loved them. 
His love was unchangeable. I believe when Judas stepped 
up to Him in the garden and betrayed Him with a kiss, 
and Christ said, "Judas, betrayest thou the Master with 
a kiss? " that there was such love in the tone of His voice, 
such love in that look, that it drove Judas to remorse 
and despair. I believe it is that that is making hell so 
terrible to Judas. He trampled upon the love of God. 
He went down to perdition trampling that love under his 
feet. I know that is what broke Peters heart; He 
turned and gave Peter one look, and there was so much 
love in that look, he went out and wept bitterly. It took 
Satan hours to win his love from Christ; it took only one 
look of Christ to win it back again. Yes, His love is 
unchangeable. That is the difference between human 
love and Divine love. Human love is very changeable. 
Some people who thought a good deal of you and me a 
few years ago, don't care for us now. Their love has 
died out. But not so with Him. His love is unchange- 
able. If there is one here to-night who has wandered 
away from Jesus Christ, and is in a backslidden state, I 



252 MOODY S SERMONS. 

want to tell you, backslider, that He loves you still, and 
wants you to return to Him. 

But, again, His love is not only unchangeable, but 
unfailing. I want to call your attention to a verse you 
will find in the forty-ninth chapter of the prophecy of 
Isaiah, ' ' Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she 
should not have compassion on the son of her womb? 
Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, 
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy 
walls are continually before me. " 

Can a mother forget the little child of her bosom? Do 
you mothers forget your children? Now, that is perhaps 
the strongest love we know anything about on earth, a 
mother's love. There are a great many things that will 
separate a man from his wife; a great many things that 
will separate a father from his son, but there is not any- 
thing in the wide world, that will separate a true mother 
from her own child. They say that death has borne 
down everything in this world, but there is one thing 
stronger than death; that is a mother's love. Death has 
never been able to conquer that. Now, the prophet 
seizes hold of that. 

" Can a mother forget the child of her bosom? Yea, 
she may forget, but I will never forget thee." 

Now, love always descends. I love my children more 
than they love me. They very often say that they love 
me the most. They think they do, but it is not true. I 
used to tell my mother I loved her more than she did 
me. She would tell it was not so; that she loved me 
the most. Since I have become a parent, I find that is 
true. I love my children more than they can love me. 
God loves a thousand times more than we can love Him» 



LOVE. 2 53 

The apostle says, "Herein is love; not that we loved 
God, but that He loved us ;" so unlovable, so vile, so 
polluted. That is a love worth talking about — that 
God has fixed His love upon us, and that He loves us 
"with an everlasting love," as we read in Jeremiah. 

There is no end to that love; it is everlasting. I do 
not know that we can illustrate God's love better than 
by examples of human love. Your mothers know that 
there is nothing in your power to do that you will not do 
for your children, that is for their good. There are 
some things you will withhold from them, because you 
love them too much to grant all their wishes; and they 
think you don't love them, because you do not grant 
their wishes. So, sometimes, we think God don't love 
us, because He don't grant all our requests and don't an- 
swer all our prayers just in the time and place that we 
would have them answered. A mother's love may be 
very strong, but it is not to be compared with the love 
of God. 

I remember of reading, some time ago, of a scene in a 
court in this country that impressed me very much. A 
young man had become reckless, and had murdered a 
man. He was arrested and sent to jail. The father, a 
very proud-spirited man, refused to have anything to do 
with that boy; refused to go to the prison to see him, 
and the other sons took the same course. They said 
they would not go to see that brother. But that mother 
went down to the prison cell, and every time she could 
get into the jail where that boy was, she was there. 
When the time came for his trial, she went into court 
and took her seat as near her boy as she could; and when 
the spectators came in„ -she was not ashamed to be 



2 54 MOODY S SERMONS. 

pointed out as the mother of that reckless young man. 
That is a mother's love. She loved him still. Her love 
was as strong as it ever was, and when the trial came on, 
and the witnesses came and testified against her boy, it 
seemed to hurt the mother more than it did the boy. 
When the jury brought in a verdict that he was guilty, 
the mother, when she got a chance, threw her arms 
around her boy's neck, there in court, and wept over him. 
She did not give him up. He was sent back to his cell; 
and every time she could get into that cell, she was there. 
That is a mother's love. A mother will not go to see her 
boy executed, but if she can get his body after he is ex- 
ecuted, she will cover it with her tears, and will 
go to the grave and plant flowers upon it, and drop tears 
upon those flowers. That is a mother's love It is far 
stronger than death. But that love is faint as compared 
with the love that God has for every soul here to-night. 
' ' A mother may forget her child, but I will never forget 
thee!" His love is unfailing. 

I want to say to every man that is without God and 
without hope, don't be deceived in this matter; don't 
think for a moment that God don't love you, because you 
are a sinner. It is not true. Christ died for the ungodly. 
While we were without strength, Christ died. God gave 
His Son to the world. The world is at war with Him. 
We are fighting against Him. The world took His Son 
and put Him to death. The world is at enmity against 
God. While this world was at enmity against God, He 
gave His Son freely for us all. 

There was a time when I thought a good deal more of 
Christ than the Father. I thought Christ came in to act 
as meditator between me and an angry judge, and Christ 
seemed far nearer to me than the Farther but since J be- 



LOVE. 255 

came a father, that feeling is all gone. It must have 
taken more love for God to give up His Son than it did 
for Christ to come and suffer. It would be far easier for 
me to die than to see my son put to death before my 
eyes. 

Think of the love God has for this lost world, when 
He gave Christ freely for us all! Think of the glory and 
honor He had in that upper world. Of His stooping from 
that throne, coming down into this world and suffering 
and dying that you and I might, through His death, enter 
into life eternal ' ' Greater love hath no man than this, 
that a man lay down his life for his friends." Christ not 
only laid down his life for His friends, but He laid down 
his life for His enemies. 

But I can imagine some of you say, " Well, I believe 
that Christ loves Christians and those that love Him, and 
keep His commandment, and statutes; but then T am a 
poor, miserable, vile sinner. I never loved Him. I never 
recognized Him. I never kept His commandments, and 
I believe God hates me. Don't it say in the Bible that 
God is angry with the sinner every day?" That is one of 
the strongest proofs that God loves the sinner. If I have 
a boy who goes astray, I get angry with him, but is that 
a proof that I do not love him? That is one of the 
strongest proofs in the Bible that God loves you, because 
He does not want you to sin and bring ruin and blight 
upon your life. The strongest proof of God's love is that 
He gave Christ to die for our sins. That cross testifies 
the love of God for this world. That cross on Calvary 
speaks out nothing but the love God had for this world. 

When the communists took Paris, they took the Ro- 
man Catholic Archbishop and threw him into prison, 



256 MOODY'S SERMONS. 

tried him and condemned him to death. In his little cell 
there was a window, in the shape of a cross; he took his 
pencil and wrote at the top of it, " Height," at the 
bottom, " Depth," and at each end of the arms, "Length" 
and "Breadth." Ah, that Roman Catholic had been to 
Calvary and had surveyed the glory of that cross. He 
had drank in its truth. That cross tells us of God's love. 
Height: it reaches to the very throne of heaven. Depth: 
it reaches to the bottom of a lost world. Length 
and Breadth: it reaches to the very corners of the earth. 
There was something stronger than those iron nails that 
held Him to that cross; it was the love He had for a per- 
ishing world. Paul prayed among those Ephesians 
that they might know the height and depth and the 
breadth of God's love. How are we going to know it if 
we do not go to Calvary and see how He died, that you 
and I might live, and hear that piercing cry on the cross, 
' ' Father, forgive them, for they know not what they 
do?" There is love for you. 

I remember when I was in Dublin, Ireland, in 1867, 
I met what they called "the Boy Preacher." I had read 
in the papers about "the Boy Preacher," but I did not 
know this was the one. He introduced himself to me, 
and said he would like to come to Chicago and preach. 
I looked at him; he was a beardless boy; didn't look as if 
he was more than seventeen, and I said to myself, ' ' He 
can't preach." He wanted me to let him know what 
boat I was going on as he would like to go on the boat 
with me. Well, I thought he could not preach and did 
not let him know. I had not been in Chicago a great 
many weeks, before I got a letter which said he had ar- 
rived in this country, and that he would come to Chicago 



LOVE. 2 57 

and preach for me if I wanted him. Well, I sat down 
and wrote him a very cold letter. "If you come west, 
call on me." I thought that would be the last I should 
hear of him. But I soon got another letter saying that 
he was still in this country and would come to Chicago 
and preach for me if I wanted him. I wrote again, if he 
happened to come west to drop in on me; and in the 
course of a few days, I got a letter stating that next 
Thursday he would be in Chicago and would preach for 
me. Then what to do with him I did not know. I had 
made up my mind he could not preach. I was going to be 
out of town Thursday and Friday, and I told some of the 
officers or trustees of the church, "There is a man com- 
ing here Thursday and Friday who wants to preach. I 
don't know whether he can or not. You had better let 
him preach, and I will be back Saturday. 

They said there was a good deal of interest in the 
church, and they did not think they had better have him 
preach then; he was a stranger, and he might do more 
harm than good. "Well," I said, " you had better try 
him. Let him preach two nights," and they finally let 
him preach. When I got back Saturday morning, I was 
very anxious to know how he got on. The first thing I 
said to my wife when I got in the house was, " How is 
that young Irishman coming on?" I had met him in 
Dublin and took him to be an Irishman, but he happened 
to be an Englishman. " How do the people like him?" 
"They like him very much." " Did you hear him? " 
"Yes." " Well, did you like him?" "Yes, I liked 
him very much. He has preached two sermons from 
that text in the third chapter of John, "For God so 
loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that 



258 Moody's sermons. 

whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life; and," she says, " I think you will like 
him, although he preaches a little different from what 
you do." " How is that? " " Well, he tells sinners God 
loves them." "Well," said I, "he is wrong. " She said, 
"I think you will agree with him when you hear him, 
because he backs up everything he says with the word of 
God. You think if a man don't preach as you do, he is 
wrong." I went down that night to church and I no- 
ticed every one brought his Bible. " Now, " he said, 
" my friends, if you will turn to the third chapter of 
John and the sixteenth verse, you will find my text." He 
preached a most extraordinary sermon from that sixteenth 
verse. He did not divide the text into "secondly" and 
"thirdly" and "fourthly" — -he just took the whole text, 
and then went through the Bible from Genesis to Reve- 
lation to prove that in all ages God loved the world; that 
He sent prophets and patriarchs and holy men to warn 
us, and sent His Son, and after they murdered Him, He 
sent the Holy Ghost. I never knew up to that time that 
God loved us so much. This heart of mine began to 
thaw out, and I could not keep back the tears. It was 
like news from a far country. I just drank it in. The 
next night there was a great crowd, for the people like 
to hear that God loves them. I tell you there is one 
thing that draws above everything else in this world, and 
that is love. A man that has no one to love him, no 
mother, no wife, no children, no brother, no sister, no 
one to love him, belongs to that class who commit sui- 
cide; he would go down here and jump in the lake. 

Well, there was a great crowd Sunday night, and he 
said, ' ' My friends, if you will turn in your Bibles to the 



LOVE. 259 

third chapter of John and the sixteenth verse, you will 
find my text," and he preached another most extraordi- 
nary sermon from that wonderful verse, " For God so 
loved the world that He gave His onlybegotten Son that 
whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have 
everlasting life." And he went on proving it again from 
Genesis to Revelation. He could turn to almost any part of 
the Bible and prove it. Well, I thought that was better 
than the other one; he struck a higher chord than ever, 
and it was sweet to my soul to hear it. The next night — 
It is pretty hard to get out a crowd in Chicago on Monday 
night, but they came. The women left their washing, 
or if they had washed, they came and they brought their 
Bibles; and he said, " My friends, if you will turn to the 
sixteenth verse of the third chapter of John, you will find 
my text,/ and again he followed it out from Genesis to 
Revelations, to prove that God loved us, and he just 
beat it down into our hearts, and I never have doubted 
it since. I used to preach that God was behind the sin- 
ner with a double-edged sword ready to hew him down. 
I have got done with that; I preach now that God is be- 
hind him with love, and he is running away from the 
God of love. 

Tuesday night came, and we thought surely he had 
exhausted that text, and that he would take another, 
but he said, "If you will turn to the third chapter of 
John and the sixteenth verse, you will find my text, "and 
he preached the sixth sermon from that wonderful text, 
and that night he struck a higher chord than ever. "God 
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have " — not going to have when you die, but have it 



260 Moody's sermons. 

right here, now — " eternal life." By that time we began 
to believe it, the whole of us, and we never have doubted it 
since; and if a man gets up in that pulpit and utters that 
text, there is a smile all over the church to-day. Al- 
though years have rolled away; they never have for- 
gotten it. 

The seventh night came, and he went into the pulpit. 
Every eye was upon him. All were anxious to know 
what he was going to preach about. He said, "My 
friends, I have been hunting all day for a new text, but 
I cannot find one as good as the old one; so we will go 
back to the third chapter of John and the sixteenth 
verse," and he preached the seventh sermon from that 
wonderful text. " God so loved the world." I remember 
the closing up of that sermon. Said he, " My friends, 
for a whole week I have been trying to tell you how much 
God loves you, but I cannot do it with this poor, stammer- 
ing tongue. * 'If I could borrow Jacob's ladder and climb up 
into heaven, and ask Gabriel, who stands in the presence 
of the Almighty, if he could tell me how much love the 
Father has for the world, all he could say would be, 'God 
so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, 
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but 
have eternal life.' " 

Since then I have been preaching the love of God, and 
I tell you, my friends, God loves you, and He does not 
want you to perish. 

" Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have 
no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the 
wicked turn from his way and live; turn ye, turn ye from 
your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel !" 



LOVE. 26l 

Drunkard tarn ! Turn from your cups ! Give them up 
to-night ! Say, " By the grace of God, I will hurl them 
from me. I will live a sober life. " The God of love will, if 
needs be, send legions of angels to help you to fight your 
way up into the kingdom of God. God has power enough. 
What we want is the power of God in our hearts. But 
we cannot have a God of love, a pure God, a holy 
God in a heart full of vice and crime and sin. We have 
got to forsake sin, and God will turn and have mercy up- 
on us. "He brought me to the banqueting house, and his 
banner over me was love." 

There is a story of a man that left England a few 
years ago and came to this country. He became dissat- 
isfied and went off to Cuba. He had not been in Cuba 
very long before the Cuban war broke out in 1867, and 
he was arrested as a spy. He knew nothing about what 
he was arrested for and could not understand a word of 
the Spanish language. They court-martialed him and 
ordered him to be shot, and when it was told to him 
that he was going to be shot as a spy, the man began to 
wake up and sent off to the American and English con- 
suls and laid the case before them. He was perfectly in- 
nocent. He could not understand a word of the language. 
The consuls looked into the case and found he was per- 
fectly innocent. They went to the Spanish officers and 
said, "Look here, this man you have ordered to be shot, 
is not guilty; he is perfectly innocent." But the Span- 
ish officers said, "He has been tried by our law and 
found guilty; the law must take its course, and the man 
must die." There was no submarine cable then, and 
they could not telegraph to their governments. They 
had no time to write and get an answer back. The 



262 Moody's sermons. 

morning came. They brought him out to the place of 
execution. They had a grave dug, and they put his coffin 
beside the grave and the man took his seat upon it, and 
they were just pulling the black cap over his head. There 
stood the Spanish soldiers, and in a few minutes they 
would receive orders to fire, and at that moment who 
should ride up but the American and English consuls, 
and jumping from the carriage they ran and wrapped the 
Star Spangled Banner and the Union Jack around the 
man, and turning to the Spanish officer said, ''Fire on 
these flags if you dare!" They did not dare. There 
were two great governments behind those flags. O my 
friends, what are this government and the English- 
government compared with the government of heaven ! 
1 ' He brought me to the banqueting house, and his ban- 
ner over me was love." Let God wrap around you the 
banner of heaven to-night. Just come under that ban- 
ner to-night. God loves you. God wants to bless you. 
I can imagine some of you say, ' ' Well, if God loves 
me, why does He afflict me so?" He does not chasten 
willingly. I don't think we have had the rod unless we 
have deserved it. 1 don't think you mothers punish your 
children unless they deserve it. They may not under- 
stand it at the time. We may not understand all of God's 
dealings, but we will by-and-by. Paul's platform Was a 
good one, ' ' And we know that all things work together 
for good to them that love God." So God gives us af- 
fliction now and then that we may know that this is not 
our abiding place. We don't belong down here. We 
are pilgrims and strangers journeying over the earth, and 
our citizenship ought to be up there. If we are living for 
God, our hearts will be set upon things above, and not 



LOVE. 263 

down here. I had a child taken down some time ago 
with the scarlet fever. I am afraid of that disease, and I 
went to the very best physician I could find in Chicago, and 
when he wrote a prescription I went to the best druggist in 
Chicago. I didn't go to any of the clerks; I went to the head 
man, who was a very careful man, and I watched him. He 
took down one bottle and then another, and another, 
and he just poured that medicine out into a bottle and 
mixed it all up, and it happened to be the very medicine 
that child needed. Perhaps any one of the ingredients 
alone might have been rank poison and killed the child, 
but all worked together for good. So it is a little af- 
fliction here and a little prosperity there, all working to- 
gether for good to them that love God. 

Now, let me say, my friends, if you want that love of 
God in your hearts, all you have to do is to open the 
door and let it shine in. It will shine in as the sun shines 
in a dark room. Let him have full possession of your 
hearts. Some people have an idea they have something 
to do to bring about reconciliation. God is already rec- 
onciled. There is not anything for you to do but to be- 
lieve that God is reconciled. 

An Englishman was telling me this story, of a father 
that had a wandering son, and you know these only sons 
are very often spoiled. They are humored and petted. 
The result is, their wills are not broken, and if their 
wills are not broken, generally some one's heart is broken. 
This young man had grown up a very headstrong, will- 
ful boy, and he and his father were constantly getting 
into trouble. The mother acted as a mediator between 
them. One day they got into trouble, and the father got 
angry and told the son to leave. The son left and said 
he would not come back until his father asked him to come 



264 Moody's sermons. 

back. The mother tried to bring about a reconciliation. 
She wrote to the boy and plead with him to come home. 
But in every letter he wrote he said, "I never, never 
will come home, until father asks me." She worked with 
that father to ask him to come home, but his proud, 
stubborn heart said, " No ; I will never ask him back." 
For long years that mother tried to bring that father and 
son together. It was their only child. But she utterly 
failed. And when she lay upon her dying bed, and the 
doctors had given her up. to die, that father, standing by 
the side of the bed, said to the wife, " Is there not any- 
thing that I can do for you?" anxious to gratify her last 
wish. ''Yes, there is one thing you can do; you can 
send for my boy. I would like to see him before I die, 
and I would like to see you and him reconciled. If you 
don't love him after I am gone, there will be no one to 
look after him." The proud heart revolted. He said, 
" I can't send for him." " Yes, you can, if you will. " "I 
will send in your name. " ' ' You know he will never come 
for me. If that boy ever comes back, you must invite 
him. You know he will never yield until you yield.' 
The father could stand it no longer, and at last he went 
down to the office and sent a dispatch in his own name 
asking that boy to come home. The moment he re- 
ceived it he started for home. As he went into the room 
the mother was sinking rapidly. The father stood by her 
bedside. He heard the door open, and saw it was that 
boy. Instead of going to the door to meet him, and re- 
ceiving him with open arms, he turned and went away 
to another part of the room. The mother took her boy's 
hand. O, how she had longed to press it! She kissed 
him, and kissed him. She then said, "Just speak to your 



LOVE, 265 

father, and it will all be over. You say the first word." 
"No," he said, "I will never speak to him until he 
speaks to me." She urged, but in vain. Then calling 
her husband to her bedside, she took him in one hand 
and the boy in the other, and that dying mother spent 
her last moments in trying to bring about a reconciliation, 
but she failed. Neither one of them would speak. At 
last, she sank away in the arms of death. The husband 
looked at the wife and saw she was gone. The boy 
looked at the mother and saw she was gone. At last 
the fathers eye caught the boy's eye, - and his heart re- 
lented. He took that boy to his bosom, and there by 
that deathbed they were reconciled. 

O, sinner, that is not a fair illustration in this respect. 
God is not angry with you, but he sent Christ into the 
world, and he died to reconcile the world. With that 
exception it is as good an illustration of reconciliation 
as you can have. I bring the body of the Son of God, 
and I say, Look at Him wounded; Look at Him dying, 
that you may be reconciled. Wonderful love! Match- 
less love! The world never saw love like that. Will you 
spurn such love? Will you trample it under your feet? 
I beg of you to-night, be ye reconciled to God. Do not 
sleep until you are reconciled. Let this be the night of 
your reconciliation. '. ' We beseech you, in Christ's stead, 
be ve reconciled to God." 



WHERE ART THOU? 



"Where art thou?" — Gen. iii, 9. 

This was the first question put to man after his fall. 
It was not said to a congregation; like this. There were 
only two in that congregation, the Lord himself was the 
preacher. Satan had been in Eden and had been doing 
his work. Adam had been listening to the lies of patan, 
and had been tempted and had fallen; and we find God 
coming down that very day to seek him out. And this 
was a call of love; it was a call of grace; it was a call of 
mercy. If God had dealt with him according to his de- 
serts, He would have hurled him from the face; of the 
earth. 

Six thousand years have rolled away since God put 
that question to our parents in Eden, but it is a question 
in my mind if there have been any of Adam's sons and 
daughters that have not heard that question sometime 
in their lives. It may be in the silent hours of the night, 
it may be while they are busy at work or in the midst of 
their pleasure; at some time the question has come steal- 
ing home upon them, "Who am I, what am I, and 
where am I going? " It has come rolling along down 
the ages. 

Now, my friends, it is of very little account where you 
and I are in the sight of our neighbors, where we are in 

266 




Satan in Paradise. 



WHERE ART THOU ? 269 

the sight of the public. It is of very little account what 
people around us think of us. They will soon go away. 
Their breath is in their nostrils, and God will change 
their countenances and send them away by-and-by. But 
it is vastly more important to know what God thinks of 
us, and where we stand in His sight; and that is the 
question I want to press home upon each one. It is a 
personal question. 

I hope this text will be sent home by the Spirit of God 
to each heart here to-night. I hope the oldest and the 
youngest person in this house will ask the question, 
' ' Where am I ?" Who am I ? What am I, and where 
am I going ? 

Now, I am going to divide this audience into three 
classes. I think we will all come under three heads. I 
would like very well if each person would take the por- 
tion that belongs to him. Of course I cannot read your 
hearts. I want to talk to the professed Christians, to 
those who have backslidden, and to those who are 
strangers to the grace of God. I want to ask each one, 
where art thou ? To all in this audience to-night that 
profess to be disciples of Jesus Christ, I would ask, 
where art thou? Where is your influence? Who claims 
you? Think a moment. You may be a member of 
some church. You go to the communion table. You 
profess to be disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ. But 
where is your influence? ' ' He that is not for Me is against 
Me." Is your influence felt for Christ in your business? 
Is your influence felt in the circle in which you move, in 
the fashionable circle, it may be, is your influence felt for 
Christ? Where art thou, O professed child of God ? 

You know I am one of those that believe we are living 



270 

in the days of sham. It don't mean anything to be a 
Christian now in the estimation of a great many. 

I firmly believe to-day that the world is stumbling over 
us professed Christians. We are so conformed to the 
world that people do not see Christ in us. Many of 
them say that Christianity is a myth, that it is a fable, that 
it is a thing of the past, that it is not true. Do you know 
that where one man reads the Bible a hundred read you 
and me? They do not read the Bible. I would to God 
they did! They do not look to your Master and mine, 
but they look to us; and that is what Christ meant when 
He said, " Ye are the salt of the earth; ye are the light 
of the world. Ye are my witnesses. I leave you down 
here to testify for Me." As I heard some one say the 
other day, ' 'If our Master represents us up in heaven as we 
represent Him down here, we would have a very poor 
representative, wouldn't we?" Ah, how we misrepre- 
sent Him down here! How unlike Christ we are! Mr. 
Sankey and myself went into a place in this country not 
long ago, and there was a lady there that had a son, and 
she said, ' ' I am not going to have that boy of mine under 
the influence of these meetings." She was a wealthy 
lady, a lady of position. She wanted her boy to move 
in fashionable society, and she was afraid he might be 
converted, and taken out of that society. I believe when 
a man is truly born of God, he has lost his taste for that 
kind of society. A godless, Christless, fashionable world 
is the thing that the true child of God abominates. She 
said, " I will take him out of town." The day we went 
into town she went out with her only child. We were 
thirty days in that city, and the afternoon we had our 
farewell meeting I missed one of the prominent ministers 



WHERE ART THOU? 27 1 

that had stood by my side, and just as I was closing up 
and leaving the building he came and said, " I am sorry 
that I could not be here at your last meeting, Mr. 
Moody. I want you to understand it is no want of in- 
terest, but," said he, " I have had a very solemn duty 
to perform." Then he went on and told me that that 
mother who had taken her son out of that city had 
brought him back there that day in his coffin, and he had 
just attended the funeral, and while we were closing ur, 
our work there that mother was there laying away hi-, 
only child. And she a professed Christian! 

My dear friends, do you know that we have a great 
many of those people to-day that profess to be children 
of God, and yet stand right in the way of their children 
coming into the kingdom of God? 

A friend of mine was talking to a young man some time 
ago about his soul. The young man turned up his nose, 
and threw up his head, and said, " Christianity is all a 
farce." " Why, " said my friend, "are you in earnest?" 
"Yes," said he, "I believe that Christians are hypo- 
crites." He knew that he had a mother that professed 
to be a Christian, and he said, "You would not call 
your own mother a hypocrite, would you? " " No, sir, I 
would not; that would sound very disrespectful. But I 
will say that my mother don't believe what she professes. 
If my mother did, don't you think she would talk to me 
about my soul? My mother never got down and prayed 
with me. If my mother believes what she professes, 
don't you think she would be concerned about my 
eternal welfare? " I tell you there is no reality in it. 
And that young man had reason to think so. 

O professed child of God, where is your influence in 



272 MOODY S SERMONS. 

your family? While you are sitting in this building to- 
night, where is your boy? Can you tell? Where is that 
daughter of yours? Is she growing up to hate Chris- 
tianity? Is that young man growing up to despise your 
God? If he is, I think the fault lies not with God but 
with ourselves. There is one thing that I have been 
more anxious for than anything else, that my children 
should have confidence in my piety. What we want at 
this present time, I think, is more piety in our homes; 
more of Christ in our daily life. We want to carry this 
blessed religion of Jesus Christ into every-day life, into 
our daily walk and conversation. 

I saw an account some time ago going through the 
press that made an impression upon my mind, of a father 
that took his little child out one day into the field. 
While he was lying down under a shade tree, the little 
child was picking wild flowers and little blades of grass, 
and carrying them to its father, and saying, in its child- 
like way, " Pretty, pretty." The father fell asleep, and, 
while he slept, the little child wandered away. When 
he awoke from his sleep, he looked all about him for his 
child, and lifted up his voice and shouted, but all he 
could hear was the echo of his own voice. Going to a 
precipice some ways off he looked down, and there up- 
on the rocks and briars he saw the mangled form of his 
little child. He rushed to it, took up its lifeless corpse, 
pressed it to his heart and accused himself of being the 
murderer of his own child. 

O, how many are sleeping in the church of God to- 
day while their children are falling over worse precipices 
than that! O, let me press the question home upon every 
professed child of God here to-night! In the sight of 
God, where are you? 



WHERE ART THOU ? 273 

But there is another class I want to speak to, that is 
the backslider. Now, I will venture to say in this con- 
gregation there are scores, may be hundreds, of men and 
women that once knew the Lord; that were once in fel- 
lowship with Him; once delighted to go to the house of 
the Lord and sit down at the communion table; once had 
a family altar; once delighted to be with His people. All 
that' is gone now. Perhaps I can tell you how you got 
away from Him. It may be that you were converted 
down here in some little town in this state and identi- 
fied yourself with the church there. You knew every 
one that belonged to the church; they knew you and 
helped you. At last perhaps your business brought you 
to this city, and you were among strangers. You went 
into this and that church, and they did not seem exactly 
like the churches in the country. There was no one to 
shake hands with you or take any interest in you; and 
you began to think you didn't like the Christians here in 
this city. They were not so warm-hearted as they were 
down in the country where you came from. You can't 
find a church like that where you were converted. The 
trouble was, you went to the churches, but didn't make 
yourself known. You didn't tell them who you were, 
and where you came from. If you had done that, they 
would have gathered around you and took your hand and 
given you a warm welcome. You went to the public ser- 
vices; no one spoke to you, and you thought they were 
very cold. I have always noticed when a man is him- 
self cooling off he always thinks other people are cooling 
off likewise. When he is cold he thinks every one else 
is cold. Before you came to this city you had a family 
altar. You prayed to the Father to protect you from 



274 MOODY S SERMONS. 

sin; but the family altar has been broken down. O 
backslider, I want to ask you to-night, where art thou? 
If God should summon you into eternity what would be- 
come of your children? 

I never saw a man that could give a reason for leav- 
ing the Lord. A backslider is one who has backslidden 
from the Lord. It is not backsliding from the church, 
because the church don't save us. 

In the second chapter of Jeremiah the prophet is 
pleading with Israel. They had backslidden. They had 
gone away from the God of Moses. They had gone 
away from the God of Abraham, of Isaac and Jacob. 
They turned away to the gods of the nations around 
them. Here is a prophet raised up by God to plead 
with them, and woo them back to the fold they had wan- 
dered from. Now, backslider, listen; this is for you. 
"Thus saith the Lord, what iniquity have your fathers 
found in Me, that they are gone far from Me, and have 
walked after vanity, and are become vain ?" What has 
the Lord done to you? Can you find any iniquity in 
Him? He is unchangeable. He has been in all these 
years the same true and best friend you have had. 
" Wherefore I will yet plead with you, saith the Lord, 
and with your children's children will I plaad. For my 
people have committed two evils. They have forsaken 
Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out 
cisterns, broken cisterns that can hold no water. Can a 
maid forget her ornkments, or a bride her attire? Yet my 
people have forgotten Me days without number." You 
do not forget those diamond rings. If you lost a dia- 
mond to-night, you would be around here to-morrow 
morning early searching for it diligently. Think of your 



WHERE ART THOU ? 275 

soul. It is worth more than the world. See what He 
tells Jeremiah to tell them ''Go and proclaim these 
words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding 
Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger 
to fall upon you, for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and 
I will not keep anger forever. Only acknowledge thine 
iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the Lord 
thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers 
under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, 
saith the Lord. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the 
Lord, for I am married unto you." Think of the Lord 
Almighty using such an illustration. It shows what love 
He has for the backslider. I want to say to the back- 
slider to-night there is one thing you haven't lost. You 
have not lost the love of God; He loves you still. You 
have gone so far you have lost the benefit of it, but He 
loves you still. The most touching, most tender and 
most loving words in Scripture are words that have been 
sent to the backslider. 

O backslider, hear the voice of the Shepherd this night 
calling to you from the dark mountains of sin, and say- 
ing as the prodigal did, "I will arise, and go to my 
father." You know Peter backslided. He denied the 
Lord. I will tell you what won him back. It was the 
loving look of his Master. It broke his heart when 
Christ turned and looked at him. O, may the tender, 
loving look of Christ fall upon your heart to-night, sin- 
ner, and may you go out and weep bitterly, as Peter 
did. 

Now, if you listen to what I tell you, and carry out 
my instructions, you will never backslide. Treat the Lord 
Jesus Christ as you do any other friend. If you have an 



276 Moody's sermons. 

intimate friend in this city, and were going away, you 
would not think of going without bidding him good-by. 
Did you ever hear of a backslider bidding the Lord Jesus 
Christ good-by when he went away! Did you ever 
hear of a backslider going into his closet, closing the 
door, and getting down on his knees, and saying to the 
Lord Jesus Christ, ' ' I have now been with you these ten 
years; I have been serving you, but I have got tired of 
the service and want to go back to the world. I am 
craving for the fleshpots of Egypt. I will have to go 
now; Lord Jesus, I bid you good-by. Farewell, I am 
never going to call on you again." Did you ever hear 
of a backslider leaving the Lord in that way? Never. 
You run away. You desert Him. There is one peculiar- 
ity about the backslider's ditch; you have to get out 
the way you got in. How did you get in? You ran 
away. Now, just get out the way you got in. Go into 
your closet and lock the door. " Only acknowledge 
thine iniquity," He says. Just confess your sins, and He 
is just and faithful to forgive us our sins. 

O, may the backslider be brought home to-night. It 
would be a terrible thing if you should die in your back- 
sliding state. 

Now, to the third class I want to speak. You may 
find a good many flaws- in our characters, a great many 
things that are not right. I admit that professed Chris- 
tians are not what they . ought to be. I want to ask 
every unsaved man, " Where art thou ?" As Christ said 
to Peter when he asked the Lord what John should do, 
11 What is that to thee? Follow thou Me." We do not 
ask you to follow us. If we did, you might bring up 
these excuses. We came here to preach Christ. We 



WHERE ART THOU ? 277 

invite you to Him. You cannot find fault with Him. 
For eighteen hundred years the devil and man have 
been trying to find a flaw in Christ's character. Thank 
God, they can't do it. He is a lamb without spot or 
blemish. We do not ask you to-night to follow us, but 
follow Him. 

If the righteous are scarcely saved, where shall the 
sinner and the ungodly appear? I want to say to you 
men that are hiding behind the failings of us Christians, 
you have got very poor stuff to feed on. You never 
heard of a soul getting veryfat on that kind of food. So 
I want to ask every unsaved woman and every unsaved 
man in this hall to-night, "Where art thou?" Just 
think a little while now. Ask yourself, "Where am I, 
what am I, and where am I going ?" 

I am a man in what is called middle life, and the last 
four or five years have been the most solemn years of 
my life. Life does not seem like a fiction now. Life 
seems real to me. I have got up, you might say, on the 
top of a hill, for life is like a man going up hill and then 
down. Threescore years and ten is the time allotted to 
man. There is one here and there that is living on bor- 
rowed time. A great many are taken away before they 
get to the top of the hill. Men do not average three- 
score and ten. As I look upon this assembly to-night, I 
would like to ask every man and woman on the top of 
the hill, or you that have just passed over it, as I have, 
to just pause with me on the top of the hill and look 
around; forget all about things around you, and just 
think, "Where am I in the sight of God?" As we 
stand on the top of the hill of life let us look back on the 
cradle from whence we came; let us look down the hill 



278 Moody's sermons. 



.-r »■ 



fe Perhaps, as you look down part way, you will 
se- ?. grave. The grass is growing upon it to-night. It 
may be that some flowers have been planted on that 
grave. It marks the last resting-place of a loved mother. 
Let your mind go back to the night you bid her farewell. 
It ~v- s, perhaps, at the midnight hour that she called you 
to >a ■ r bedside, and then she took you by the hand, and 
that night you promised you would meet her in the king- 
dom of God. You told her you would be a Christian, 
and follow her into that land where she was going. 

I would like to know how many in this audience to- 
night have made vows. Won't you, to-night, pay your 
vows? Long years have rolled away since you made 
that promise. You promised yourself you would settle 
the question then, but you did not. Then you said, 
" Well, I will do it a little further on." That time has 
come again, and you have not done it. 

I may be talking to some that made a promise in their 
childhood that they would become Christians. Child- 
hood is gone, and you are now not only in manhood, but 
you are passing over that hill. A sermon that would 
move you to tears ten years ago makes no impression on 
you now. Time has rolled on. Here and there you see 
a gray hair in your head. Your eyes are growing dim. 
Come back with me, my friend, and as we look down the 
hill again we may see a little short grave. It marks the 
resting-place of a loved child. The night death came 
into your home and took away that child, don't you re- 
member that then you made a vow that you would see 
your child again in the kingdom of God? O my dear 
friends, won't you to-night make good that promise be- 
fore you sleep, and let the news go up on high that you 
are coming up there? 



WHERE ART THOU ? 279 

Last night a fine-looking young man came upon this 
platform. He had been a skeptic. He was inclined to 
believe that the Bible was a myth. But he had a godly 
sister who believed in that book. She used to pray for 
him. A fews days ago that sister died. Then his infidel- 
ity did not comfort him. Ah, how cold infidelity is in 
the time of affliction, when we stand by the open grave 
of a loved friend! Ah, atheism don't comfort us then! 
Infidelity don't comfort us then! 

That young man wants something besides skepticism 
now. He wants something besides cold, hard infidelity 
now. That loving sister has passed within the veil. 
He wants to go and meet her. He has stood by that 
grave, and dropped tears upon it. While I am standing 
in this house talking, I will venture to say his mind is 
upon that sister, and he says, "I want to meet her." 
Well, young man, you can. Christ says, " I go to pre- 
pare a mansion." He is up there fitting up the mansions, 
and by-and-by you shall meet the loved one with the 
Master, and be forever with Him. Thank God for the 
glorious gospel of Jesus Christ. It is downright mad- 
ness, it is the height of folly for a man to turn a deaf ear 
to the gospel of the Son of God. Come again, and stand 
on top of this hill, and look down on the grave. It is 
very short after all from the cradle to the grave. Look 
down the hill of life to-night. It may be that the shroud 
is already woven that shall be wrapped around these 
bodies. It may be the coffin is already made that you 
and I shall be laid in. It may be that while I am talking 
here to-night death may be on your track; we know it 
is on the track of each one of us, and it may be a good 
deal nearer than you think; and the time may come a 



28o MOODY'S SERMONS. 

great deal sooner than you expect that you shall be cut 
down; and if you die without God, without hope, what 
excuse will you have? Here you are in a Christian land 
where you hear the gospel preached. You are invited 
to come to the gospel feast. Here is another invitation. 
What will you do with it? O my friends, to-night be 
wise and accept of salvation as a gift from Him who 
came into the world to bring life and immortality and 
light. 

When I was in England, in 1867, there was a young 
French nobleman came to consult Dr. Fox Winslow, 
that celebrated doctor that had a great deal of expe- 
rience and practice with the human mind. He brought 
letters from the French Emperor, Napoleon III, and the 
great leading men in Paris, asking the doctor to do all 
he could to save the man's reason. When the doctor 
examined him he found the man was troubled about 
something; had great trouble that was weighing upon his 
mind, and he went to work to find out the cause. He 
says, "Can you tell me what is weighing upon your 
mind? What is the trouble?" The young nobleman 
said that he could not tell. "Well," says the doctor, 
' ' I must first find out the cause of this disease, before I 
can do anything." Says he, " Have you lost any friends?" 
"No, sir; none lately." " Have you lost any property?" 
" No, sir." " Have you lost any reputation or standing 
in your country?" "No, sir." "Well, sir, I want to have 
you tell me what it is that is weighing upon your mind." 
The young nobleman hung his head as if he was ashamed 
to tell, and at last he says, "Well, doctor, my father 
was an infidel, and my grandfather was an infidel, and I 
have been brought up an infidel, and for the last two 



WHERE ART THOU? 28 1 

years this question has haunted me day and night, 
" Eternity, and where shall I spend it? I try to get to 
sleep at night, and if I sleep an hour or two, and I wake 
up, that question comes up to me, ' Eternity, and where 
shall I spend it?'" "Well," the doctor says, " you have 
come to the wrong physician." The young nobleman 
sprung to his feet and says, "Doctor, is there no help 
for me? Have I got to be haunted day and night with 
this question? Can't you help me? " The doctor says, 
"I cannot help you, but I can tell you of a physician 
who can;" and the doctor went on to tell his own expe- 
rience; he said that he was once an infidel and had been 
blessed by reading the fifty-third chapter of Isaiah, and 
he commenced to read that wonderful chapter. " He was 
wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our 
iniquities; the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; 
and with His stripes we are healed." He gave him the 
remedy for sin. He held up a crucified Savior, and the 
young nobleman said, "Doctor, do you really believe 
that Jesus Christ was in heaven, and that He voluntarily 
left heaven and came down here, and suffered and died 
for this world?" " Yes," says the doctor, "I believe it, 
and by believing that I got rid of my infidelity, and by 
believing that I got rid of my sins," says he; "and I 
have no doubt about where I am going to spend eternity. 
It is all clear in my mind." "Well," says the nobleman, 
"if that is true, I ought to believe it." "Well," says 
the doctor, I don't want you to believe it unless it is true. 
There is a way of finding out whether it is true or not. 
Let us get down and ask the God that created us to 
teach us if it is true." And down the doctor went, and 
he prayed for the nobleman, and he asked the noble- 



282 MOODY'S SERMONS. 

man to pray for himself. He went back to the doctor 
day after day for about ten days or two weeks, and then 
went back to Paris as a Christian man, and when I was 
there in 1867, he was writing back to the doctor as one 
Christian writes to another. He had got that question 
settled. 

Young man, I would like to ask you to-night, where 
will you spend eternity? That is the question to-night. 
We are free agents. God allows us to choose. He has 
set before you life and death. He set before you a bless- 
ing and a curse, and it is for you to choose. Where will 
you spend eternity? Will you spend it with Christ in 
yonder world of light? Will you spend it in those man- 
sions He has gone to prepare for you, with that sainted, 
godly mother, with that praying, godly wife? Will you 
spend it with that lovely child that has gone on high? 
Ah, my friends, it is in your power. You can settle this 
question to-night; or will you be banished from God and 
heaven? I want to give you one word that the Son 
Jesus said, " If ye die in your sins, where I am ye can- 
not come." Away with this doctrine that a man is going 
into heaven with all the sins of life upon him, a man 
that is polluted with sin, a man that has fought against 
God all his life. Why, heaven would be hell to him. 

Yes, my friends, if you ever see that kingdom, you 
must believe on His Son. Say, skeptic, what are you 
going to do? Are you going on in your infidelity? Are 
you going to hold on to unbelief and die in your sins, 
and be banished from God, and from heaven; or will you 
this night believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved? 




The Sermon on the Mount. Matthew, v, 1,2. 



"WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST?" 



What think ye of Christ? — Matt, xxii, 42. 

I would like, if possible, just to hold your attention 
right to that one question for a little while, forgetting 
everything else. It is not what you think of the Bible. 
It is not what you think of this denomination or that de- 
nomination. It is not what you think of the church. It 
is not what you think of this preacher or that preacher, 
but "What think ye of Christ ?" 

I would like to have time to take Him up to-night as a 
teacher; the most wonderful teacher that ever came into 
this world. No man taught as He did. He did not 
teach like the Scribes and Pharisees. He taught as one 
who had authority. But that is not the object to-night. 

I would like to have time to take Him up as a preacher. 
You talk about your great preachers, but this world 
never saw such a preacher as He was. He stood at the 
head of the list. There never has been, there never will 
be, another one like Him. Very often ministers preach 
their opinions. He taught no opinions. He taught the 
truth, and it was so deep that the greatest theologians 
have not been able to fathom the depths of His teach- 
ing; and yet they were so simple and so beautiful that 
the little children understood them, and they liked to 
hear Him. In fact, there is not a book in the world now 
that will interest the children like the Bible. If you 

285 



286 Moody's sermons. 

want a book that is fall of beautiful stories for the chil- 
dren, that is the book. 

And He had a faculty of teaching and preaching the 
truth so that men could not forget it. There is not a 
prodigal on the face of this continent, in my opinion, 
that is not familiar with the fifteenth chapter of Luke. 
He drew that picture so vivid and so clear that men 
cannot forget it. They know about that younger son- 
they know about that far country. I seldom talk with 
a prodigal that he don't refer to it. We can never for^ 
get that story of the good Samaritan. It kind of hooks 
into your memory. You can't get it out if you try. 

I am told by eastern travelers who have been through 
Palestine that there is not a solitary thing you can see 
there but that the Lord used it as an illustration — hung 
the truth right about it. The first parable that he uttered 
was that of the sower. I can imagine that, as He was 
teaching there upon the hillside, He looked down, and 
upon the bank of that lake was a sower going forth in 
the spring to sow, and He said, " Behold a sower! " and 
he drew a lesson that you cannot forget. There are four 
kinds of hearers. We have had them here in this city 
for the last four weeks, and they will remain till the end 
of the time. There are the wayside, the stony-ground, 
the thorny-ground, and the good ground hearers. Would 
to God there were more good-ground hearers, that should 
bring forth thirty, sixty and a hundred fold. Those four 
kinds of hearers will remain. He taught the truth. Men 
cannot get around it. They may say there are not four 
kinds of hearers, but that don't make it so; and any man 
that talks much to the public and mingles much with 
them will find those kind of hearers. Many a man has 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 287 

been in this tabernacle, and the devil has been out- 
side and caught the seed away before he could get home, 
and before he could cross the street. He thought when 
he left the tabernacle that he would step over and let 
some one talk with him. Before he got over there the 
devil caught him. 

I would like to talk to you about Him as a physician. 
Why, they say they have got some wonderful physicians 
in New York, in London and in Paris. Their fame is 
known throughout all the country. But did you ever 
hear of a doctor that never lost a case? They say you 
have some very fine doctors here in this city, but have 
you got one that never lost a case? He never lost a case. 
He had some pretty difficult cases, but He was a match 
for every case that came. Even if they were dead when. 
He got there, they lived. He never preached any fu- 
neral sermons. A dead body would come to life when 
He came. 

I would like to have time to take Him up as a com- 
forter. As some one has said, he wiped away more tears 
in one day than all the infidels in eighteen hundred 
years. He has bound up more aching hearts, He has 
comforted more people, than all the infidels put together 
have ever done. He came for that purpose. "He sent 
me," He says, "to heal the broken-hearted." That is 
what He came for. 

I have not come here to-night to take Him up as a 
prophet; not to speak to you about Him as a Priest, 
or as a king. I have not come here to talk to you 
about Him as a preacher and a teacher, or as a phy- 
sician, or as a comforter. That is not the point to- 
night, I have got another point in view, and the point 



288 Moody's sermons. 

I want to call your attention to is this. Who was He? 
Was He what He claimed to be or not? 

Now, I am one of those that contend that Jesus Christ 
was either God-man — He was both human and divine — 
or else He was a great imposter, and He passed Himself 
off to be more than He was. Now, you and I have great 
contempt for a man that is assuming to be more than he 
is. If a man tries to make you believe that he is a greater 
man than he is, he goes right down in your estimation 
at once. 

Now, to-night I want to ask you to settle this question 
in your minds. Was he God-man? Was He with God 
the Father before the world existed? He said He was. 
Before the world existed, He existed — before the morn- 
ing stars sang together. "Before Abraham was, I am." 
Now, it is a very important question. It is one of the 
most important questions that can come before us down 
here in this world. We will not know how to treat 
Christ if we have not made up our minds who and what 
He is. I was talking to a man not many hours ago, and 
he said it made no difference what he thought of Jesus 
Christ. I was pressing that point upon him. It makes 
all the difference in the world what we think of Him. It 
is of very little account what you think of General Grant. 
It is of very little account what you think of the public 
men of this country to-day. It is of very little account 
what you think of Queen Victoria. It is of very little, 
account what you think of the emperors and rulers 
of other nations. It is of little account what we think of 
other men in comparison with what we think of Jesus 
Christ. This is the question; and I believe it is a 
proper question. I think I have a right as a preacher of 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 289 

the gospel to press this question home upon my audience; 
and I want those young men up in the gallery, I want 
every person in the house to-night, just to put the ques- 
tion home to himself. "What do I think of Christ? 
What is my opinion of Him? " We are very free to ex- 
press our opinion about public men. There is hardly a 
person in this house that has not made up his mind about 
the public men of this nation. Jesus Christ is a public 
character, and we have a right to ask you what you think 
of Him. There has been more written and more said 
about Jesus of Nazareth in your day and mine than of any 
hundred men that ever lived; and it is time for us to make 
up our minds what we think of Him. Was He an im- 
poster ? Was He what the Jews claimed Him to be — 
a deceiver and a fraud? Or was He God-man? 

I am thoroughly convinced that men have got to take one 
side or the other. This idea that Jesus Christ was a very 
good man as some people tell us, but He was only man, is 
false. It seems to me you could not utter a greater false- 
hood than that. If Jesus Christ were mere man, then he 
has been guilty of one of the worst sins in the whole Bible. 
All through the Bible God has said, "Thou shalt have 
no other gods before Me." Christ comes and says, "Come 
unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will 
give you rest." He invites the world to come to Him. 
Not only that, but He tells us that we cannot come 
to the Father except through Him and by Him. " I 
am the way." " I am the truth." "I am the life." "I 
am the resurrection and the life." That is what he says. 
Now, if that is not true, then he was an imposter, 
and if He was an imposter, the Jews ought to have put 
him to death. By their Jewish law, they were obliged 



29O MOODY S SERMONS. 

to put Him to death; and we either ought to ratify the 
act of Calvary and say they did right, or else we ought 
to come out and own Him as our Lord and our Master. 

But to-night I am going to ask you all to imagine you 
are on a jury. Perhaps some of you ladies will say, " I 
never was in a jury box in my life." I suppose you never 
were, and perhaps there are a good many men here that 
never were in a court on a jury; but to-night I would 
like to have every one of you just keep awake and keep 
your mind right on the case we have before us. Let us 
examine a few witnesses and make up our minds on their 
testimony. If a man has a case in court he brings in the 
witnesses. Both sides are brought in, and after they 
have heard the testimony on both sides, the jury make 
up their minds. 

Now, to-night I want to call in the witnesses, and we 
will just imagine that this is the witness-box right here. 
Now, you know r the worst enemies that Jesus Christ had 
while he was down there were the Pharisees and the 
Sadducees. They were constantly trying to entangle 
Him. They were constantly trying to find something 
against Him that they might put Him to death. They 
made one attack after another, and they failed. The 
most serious charge they could bring against Him was 
this. " This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them." 
That is what we glory in. It is a good thing He does. 
That takes us in. 

But we will not take the public. We will just take up 
the individuals. Now, Caiaphas was president of the 
highest ecclesiastical court of that day. There was nc 
higher tribunal. He really sat in the place of Aaron. 
Jesus Christ was brought before Caiaphas. It is Caiaphas 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 29 1 

that gave sentence of death. It was he that gave orders 
that Christ should be crucified. Now, suppose to-night 
we could bring that priest in here with his flowing robes 
upon him. Let him stand here, and let us ask him what 
he found against Jesus Christ. Let us ask him what 
Christ was guilty of, and let us hear what he says. He 
it was that put Jesus Christ under oath. You know if a 
man goes into court now, they make him hold up his 
right hand and solemnly swear that he will tell the truth, 
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. Well, he 
put Christ under oath. After the witnesses had come in 
and testified, then he put Him under oath. "I adjure 
thee, by the living God, tell us plainly, art thou the 
Christ, the Son of the Blessed?" Christ said, "lam, 
and ye shall see Me at the right hand of God, and com- 
ing in the clouds of heaven." " What further testimony 
do we want?" says Caiaphas. ' 'We have heard blasphemy 
from His own lips." And he took his mantle and rent it, 
and said to the Sanhedrim, "What think ye?" and they 
said, ' ' He is guilty, of death. " If Jesus Christ was not God- 
man, then they ought to have put Him to death, because 
there in that council He said, " I am," when the'question 
was put to Him, and He was under oath. It was that 
very thing that caused Him to be put to death. It was 
His own testimony. He bore testimony to that very 
point — that He was God-man; that He had come from 
heaven, and they should see Him at the right hand of 
God, and coming in the clouds of heaven. 

But we have a good many witnesses to examine, and 
I have to pass on. The next witness we want to bring 
into court is Pilate. Pilate was no Jew. He was preju- 
diced really against the Jews. He was put there by the 



292 Moody's sermons. 

Roman government to keep peace in that city. Now, 
let us bring Pilate in here and examine him. The Jews 
brought Jesus before Pilate, and Pilate examined Him. 
And now hear what Pilate had to say after examining 
Him and talking with Him. This is his testimony: " I 
find no fault in Him." If there could have been a flaw 
found in His character, do you think the Jews would not 
have found Him out and told Pilate? Do you think that 
Pilate would not have found it out in that bloodthirsty 
city? If there had been something wrong in His character; 
if He had been a fraud; if He had been a deceiver, do 
you think they would not have found it out? " I find no 
fault in this man. I will chastise Him and let Him go." 
"If you let Him go, you are not Caesar's friend." Poor, 
vacillating Pilate. He did not have the moral stamina 
to live up to his conscience. He sent Him away to 
Herod, and Herod could find no fault in Him. 

But we have another witness, a lady. We will bring 
in Pilate's wife. We have her testimony on record. She 
sent word to her husband, and this was her testimony: 
"Have thou nothing to do with that just man, fori 
have suffered many things this day in a dream because of 
Him." People talk against Pilate now, but there have 
been a good deal worse than Pilate right here in this 
city. They can find fault with Jesus Christ, but Pilate, 
that heathen governor, could find no fault with him. 
Pilate's wife could find no fault with Him. 

But here is another witness. Now, you know, Judas 
knew a good deal more about Jesus Christ than these 
witnesses that we have had in the witness box. Judas 
knew a good deal more about Jesus Christ than Cai- 
aphas did. Perhaps Caiaphas never met him but once,. 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 20,3 

and that on that memorable night when he was on trial. 
Pilate probably had never met him until he was brought 
before him. Pilate's wife perhaps never had seen him. 
But Judas had been with him for three years. He had 
heard those wonderful sermons. He had heard those 
wonderful parables uttered by Him. He had seen Him 
perform those mighty miracles. He was with Him when 
Lazarus came forth. He was with Him on all occasions 
nearly when He performed those wonderful miracles. 
Now, let Judas come in. He has sold Him for thirty 
pieces of silver. If there is anything against Christ he 
will certainly know it. Look at him ! Look at the re- 
morse ! Look at the despair that has settled up on his 
countenance. Let him step into the witness box. "Come 
now, Judas, tell us what think you of Christ ? You have 
been with Him for three years; you have been associated 
with Him; you have been the treasurer of that little band. 
What think you of Christ? " Hear him, as he throws 
down those thirty pieces of silver, " I have betrayed in- 
nocent blood." Even the very prince of traitors knew 
that Christ was innocent. That is what Judas thought 
of Him. Men sit in judgment on Judas now; but how 
many men will say that Christ was not what He claimed 
to be. Judas knew it. "I have betrayed innocent 
blood." That is his testimony. 

It is a very singular thing that every man that had any- 
thing to do with the death of Jesus Christ left his testi- 
mony. God made every one of them testify that His 
Son was innocent. Not one of them was permitted to 
speak against that Son. Their testimony has been put 
on record, and preserved and handed down to the pres- 
ent time. 



294 Moody's sermons. 

Now, you know, if there is a criminal in this county 
that is to be executed, the sheriff has charge of the exe- 
cution. The next witness that we want to bring in is 
not a man that bore the name of sheriff, but really the 
man that held the same position that day, the centurion 
who had charge of the execution. He was there at Cal- 
vary, and it was he that gave orders that those nails 
should be driven into His hands and His feet. It was he 
that gave orders that those soldiers should take that cross 
up and let it fall into that hole that had been dug. 

Now, let the centurion be brought in here. Let him 
stand here in the witness-box. " Come, now, centurion, 
you had charge of that execution. You saw Jesus nailed 
to the cross. You saw Him hanging between heaven and 
earth. What think you of that person? What think 
you of Jesus of Nazareth?" " Truly this was the Son of 
God. " That is what he says. He was convinced right 
then and there. That is what the sheriff said. Never 
was there such a scene on earth as that witnessed there 
at the cross, when Jesus cried with a loud voice, "It is 
finished, " and heaven took up the cry, and the rocks were 
rent, and the earth shook. The earth knew its Creator, 
although man did not, and the centurion was obliged to 
say, "Truly, this was the Son of God." 

But I have other witnesses. Do you know that the 
testimony of the devils is on record? They bear testimony. 
It has been put on record, and it has been kept on record 
for us. "Thou Son of the most high God, hast Thou 
come here to torment us before our time? " Even the 
very devils knew Him. And yet men don't know Him; 
yet men don't think well of Him; and there are men 
go.ng up and down this nation talking against this Jesus, 
with all this testimony on record. 

Now, these were not friends of Jesus. These witnesses 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 295 

that we have been examining were men that lifted up 
their voices against Him. They were the bitterest ene- 
mies that He had. 

But now we will bring in His friends. You know, if 
you want to get the truth of the case, you want to hear 
both sides. We have heard the side of the enemies of 
Christ; and we have tried to be fair. We have brought 
in all their testimony that we can find. We challenge 
any skeptic or infidel to bring in any more testimony. 
Bring in your witnesses. Let them come and testify 
against the Son of God, if you can find them. 

"There was a man sent from God." That is the way 
it begins. I like that. He was sent to introduce this 
Christ. He was no fanatic, and he was not biased by 
the world. The world had no power over him. Flat- 
tery did not have any weight with him. Position did 
not have any weight with Him. If he had been 
living now you would not find him up here on your fine 
avenues. He was one of the poorest of the poor. His 
food was that of locusts and wild honey. He did not 
wear a broadcloth coat. His coat was made of camel's 
skin, and he wore a leather girdle. But he came out on 
the banks of the Jordan and began to cry to that nation, 
"Repent, repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand! " 
And the nation began to be moved. Strange rumors 
went from town to town about this wonderful wilderness 
preacher, and thousands began to crowd to the banks of 
the Jordan to see him. What must have thrilled the 
audiences was that he said that he was just the forerun- 
ner of a coming One. One whose shoe's latchet he was 
unworthy to unloose. He was just the herald of a com- 
ing One. At last Jesus of Nazareth, the village carpen- 
ter, came down to the banks of the Jordan, and when 



2g6 Moody's sermons. 

John saw Him, he seemed to quail before him. He drew 
back and refused to baptize him. But the Lord com- 
manded him, and he knew nothing but obedience, he did 
what the Lord told him; and from that hour John, that 
mighty preacher, changed his text, and he had but one 
text after that, "Behold the Lamb of God that taketh 
away the sin of the world! " That was his cry. That is 
what he thought of Him. John was just a mere guide- 
post, pointing toward Him. He turned his disciples 
away from himself, and turned them.toward this Galilean 
Prophet. "Behold the Lamb of God!" In another 
place he says, "I bear record this is the Son of God." 
"I must decrease, but He must increase." He began 
to preach down himself and preach up this wonderful 
Christ. It would take a long time to tell you what John 
thought of Him. I cannot examine this witness as I 
would like to. It would take all night. I am afraid 
you would get weary. 

We will pass over and take up another. Bring in 
Peter. We could not have a better witness, perhaps, 
than Peter. Peter denied Him. Put Peter in the wit- 
ness-box, and say, "Well, Peter, you once denied this 
Christ and said you did not know Him. You swore that 
you never knew Him. Was that so, Peter? " I can see the 
tears trickling down his cheeks. "That is the greatest 
lie I ever told in my life. Know Him ! I think I do 
know Him." "What do you think of Him? What is 
your opinion of this Christ?" "God hath made this 
same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and 
Christ." That is what he thought of Him. As he 
stood there on the day of Pentecost that was his tes- 
timony. 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 297 

One day, Christ seemed to be just hungering and 
thirsting for some one to confess Him, and He said to 
his disciples around Him, ''Who do men say that I, the 
Son of Man, am?" "Some say you are Moses; some 
say you are Jeremiah; some say this prophet, some that 
prophet." "But who do you say I am?" "Thou art 
the Son of the living God," says Peter. " Blessed art 
thou, Simon Bar-jona; flesh and blood never revealed 
that unto thee." Peter knew Him. So when he preached 
on the day of Pentecost, he called Him the Christ. "God 
hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, 
both Lord and Christ." "There is none other name 
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be 
saved." 

But let us call in that thief now. He was a notorious 
character. They punished only the most notable crimi- 
nals by the death of the cross. That thief is a good wit- 
ness. Let us bring him in. We are told by Matthew 
and Mark that those two thieves, when they went out 
that morning, from the prison to the cross, went out re- 
viling, and when the crowd began to mock Christ, it 
says, the two thieves also " cast it in his teeth." They, 
too, mocked. But all at once a strange thing takes place 
there. The heart of one of these thieves seemed to be 
touched. I don't know what touched him, but I can 
imagine it was Christ's prayer, "Father, forgive them, 
for they know not what they do." That thief says, " He 
has a different spirit from what I have. He must be 
more than human. That must be the cry of the God- 
man." He seems to have been convicted right there. 
Hear what he says: " We indeed suffer justly, but this 



298 Moody's sermons. 

man hath done nothing amiss." That is what the thief 
thought of him. 

But here is Thomas. Thomas has a good many rep- 
resentatives to-day. He has a good many descendants 
living here in this city. Thomas belonged to the doubt- 
ing school. There are a great many people like Thomas. 

They doubt what they cannot see. They can't take 
things by faith. After the Lord had arisen, Thomas, 
like a good many people now, did not believe He had 
arisen, and, I will venture to say, Thomas was the most 
unhappy man in Jerusalem the first week after Christ 
came out of the sepulcher. The first Sunday when He 
appeared to his disciples, Thomas was not there. They 
had a little prayer-meeting, and he was missing. Per- 
haps he thought the whole thing was over, and that they 
would never hear of Him again, that He would never rise 
from Joseph's sepulcher. But I can imagine Monday 
morning, as Thomas goes walking down the street, whom 
should he meet but John? John says, " Thomas, have 
you heard the news ?" ' ' What news ?" ' ' The Lord is 
risen." " O," says he, "I don't believe that. His 
spirit may have risen, but His body is not." "O, yes; 
His body is. Why I saw Him last night, and I talked 
with Him." " O, no; you must be mistaken; it must 
have been a vision." " No, it was the identical Jesus; 
I talked with Him." " O, I can't believe that." 

Thomas starts down the street and has not got more 
than half a block before he meets Peter, and Peter says, 
"Thomas, the Lord has risen indeed." " O, no; John 
just told me back here He had risen, but I don't believe 
a word of it." "Well," says Peter, "but I had an inter- 
view with Him. He has forgiven me all my backslid- 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 299 

ings." " O, well, you just imagine you saw Him. You 
must be mistaken. I don't believe He is risen at all." 
"Well, but we went to the sepulcher, and it is empty. 
And there were two angels there, and they said, ' Come 
and see the place where the Lord lay,' and they said He 
had risen, and then afterwards we saw Him." " O, well, 
I couldn't believe that. I couldn't believe it unless I shall 
see the prints of the nails in His hands, and put my fin- 
gers in them, and thrust my hand into His side." Before 
the week is over he has met more than a dozen who have 
seen Christ, but he will not believe them. 

The church is full of Thomases to-day. They stay 
away from the prayer-meeting, where Christ meets His 
disciples, and they go out into the world and live among 
skeptics and infidels so much that they doubt everything 
from one end of the Bible to the other. 

But the next Sabbath came, and Thomas was there 
that day; and while they were talking, and perhaps try- 
ing to convince Thomas that the Lord had risen, who 
should stand there but the Lord of Glory, and He says, 
" Thomas, reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my 
side, and put thy finger into these wounds." And 
Thomas cries out, "My Lord and my God!" That is 
what he thought of Him. He owned Him as His Lord 
and his God. 

O, may God scatter our unbelief to-night, and may 
we say, like Thomas, " My Lord and My God !" I don't 
want any other Lord but Jesus Christ. I don't want 
any other master but Jesus Christ. 

O, this miserable unbelief that is keeping back God's 
blessing from this world. Let us say with Thomas to- 
night, ' ' My Lord and my God. " That is what Thomas 



300 M00DYS SERMONS. 

thought of Him. His unbelief is gone now. He never 
doubted from that moment that the Lord had come up 
out of the sepulcher. 

But here is another witness. Ah, what a witness we 
have in John! He was a little nearer the heart of the 
Savior than any of the rest. He is that lovable disciple 
that laid his head upon the bosom of the Son of God. 
He heard the throbbing of that heart. 

How he loved him. It would take all night to examine 
John, the beloved disciple. O, how much he thought 
of Him. In the sight of John, He was the lily of the 
valley, the bright and morning star, the root and off- 
spring of David. John says, He was the light of the 
world. He says, He was the life of the world. He 
says, He was the resurrection and the life. It would 
take a good while to go through John. We would have 
to go through his gospel, then through the epistles, 
and then through Revelation to find out what John 
thought of Jesus. Yes, he thought a good deal of Him. 
If you want to get a good idea of Jesus, read what John 
wrote; you need not get any of these infidel books. Read 
John. John was with Him all through His ministry. You 
could not have a better witness than John, that Galilean 
fisherman. 

Here is another witness, and this witness ought to con- 
vince every skeptic. When I was in Baltimore, there 
was an atheist persuaded to come into the meeting by 
some friend. Said he, "Just come in. I would like to 
have you come in. Of course you don't believe any- 
thing that is said, but just come in and see the audience." 
I happened to be preaching that night on this very sub- 
ject, "What think ye of Christ ?" 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 301 

The atheist began to listen when I began to talk about 
Saul. "Now," said he, "I would like to hear what 
Saul has to say, because there was a time when Saul did 
not believe in Him. There was a time when Saul was 
His bitterest enemy; and I would like to hear what that 
witness has to say." And he listened, and, thank God, 
he was convicted and converted, and I correspond with 
him now. " He is one of the brightest lights in the whole 
city of Baltimore. I hope there will be some atheist 
converted here to-night. 

Now, let us hear what that little tentmaker of Tarsus 
has to say. ''Paul, what think you of Christ?" Hear 
what he says. " I count all things but dung that I may 
win Christ." What did he care for this world? The 
fashion of it passes away. He had his eye fixed upon 
the Man of Calvary. He left the city of Jerusalem, 
where he was brought up, and where he held a high office. 
He left Gamaliel, and the whole of them, and he says, 
"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the 
faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Him- 
self for me. Who shall separate us from the love of 
Christ? * * * I am persuaded that neither death, 
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor 
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, 
nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from 
the love of God. which is in Christ Jesus, our Lord." 

Yes, that little tentmaker thought a good deal of Him. 
The moment he got a glimpse of the Man who died on 
Calvary, his heart was taken captive. From the time 
Christ met him at Damascus until he met his death at 
Rome, he was all in all for Christ. Every hair in his 
head was true for Christ. Every drop of his blood was for 



302 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Christ, for Jesus Christ every time his pulse beat, it 
beat true to the Man that is at the right hand of God. 
If you want to find out what Paul thought of Him, read 
some of his epistles. He thought everything of Him. He 
thought nothing of himself. He had a good opinion of 
himself till he met Christ; but Christ was so much bet- 
ter than he was that he sank down and was nothing. 
When a man sees Jesus Christ, he will have something 
then to feed upon. He will not think what a great 
man he is. He will think what a mean contemptible 
wretch he is in comparison with the Man that is at 
the right hand of God. 

Well, I have other witnesses. There are a good many 
that would like to come and testify. This Bible is full 
of them. I might call up Zaccheus of Jericho. He 
could tell you a good deal about Christ. I might call 
up Mary Magdalena. She could tell some wonderful 
stories about Jesus. I might call up Martha and Mary of 
Bethany, and their brother, Lazarus. I would like to 
call up that man he met over there among the Gad- 
arenes, out of whom he cast legions of devils. But we 
have not time to examine these witnesses. I think we 
have examined enough, haven't we? Isn't the jury satis- 
fied that He was more than man; that He was God man- 
ifest in the flesh; that He was all He claimed to be? 

But if you will pardon me, I would like to call your 
attention to this. We have something besides men. The 
angels were once, and only once, permitted to bear wit- 
ness. A friend was telling me to-night that the angels 
have not the privilege of working that you and I have. Ga- 
briel has not the privilege of coming down here and saving 
a soul to Christ. When Cornelius wanted to know the 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 303 

way of life, the angel had to tell him to send to Joppa, 
thirty miles away, and get Peter. But the angels had a 
chance once to tell what they thought of Jesus Christ. 
Those shepherds were, perhaps, half asleep there on the 
plains of Bethlehem, when all at once there came down 
a heavenly host all around, and the shepherds began to 
rub their eyes and look up. What a strain it must have 
been. What was it? "Behold, I bring you good tidings of 
great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you 
this day is born in the city of David a Savior which is 
Christ the Lord. " That is what they thought of Him. 
"A Savior. ' r And then there was a great company — I 
don't know but the whole choir of heaven was down here 
right out on those plains, and they burst out, "Glory to 
God in the highest, and on earth peace, good-will toward 
men." Blessed gospel, my friends! Good tidings! Who 
will believe it to-night! Unto you, every soul in this 
house, unto you is born, this day, in the city of David, a 
Savior. And now the question is, what will you do 
with Him? 

John, you know, says he was caught up once, and he 
heard a loud voice in heaven. It was a voice like the 
voice of many waters. ' ' It was the voice of many an- 
gels round about the throne. The number of them was 
ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thou- 
sands, and they cried, Worthy is the Lamb that was 
slain to receive power, and riches and wisdom, and 
strength, and honor and glory, and blessing. " That is 
what they think of Him up there. 

O, let earth join with heaven to-night. Let all this as- 
sembly join with that crowd around the throne, and let us 
say, "Worthy, worthy is the Lamb that was slain from the 



304 Moody's sermons. 

foundation of the world." O poor, vile, sinner, come 
out from the world and join the hallelujahs of heaven to- 
night, and let us all shout together, ' ' Worthy, worthy 
is the Lamb! " Isn't He worthy? What do you ministers 
of the cross say? Isn't he worthy? Let us up and pub- 
lish it. Let us out and tell the world of Him. The 
devil has been deceiving the world. The world does not 
know this Christ. And who shall publish Him if we 
don't? The world is perishing for the want of Jesus 
Christ. Let us go out into the world and tell it out. 

Now, God forbid that I should speak in any careless 
or any flippant way, but with all reverence let me say 
that there is one more witness that I want to bring in 
here to-night, and that is God the Father. As John 
stood on the banks of Jor dan — and I can imagine there 
was an audience twice the size of this audience gathered 
around that wonderful preacher there on those banks, 
and he just held them breathless, when Jesus came 
forward and was baptized, as He came up out of that 
water a voice was heard. Bible students tell us that 
the Jehovah of the old testament is the Christ of 
the new, and it is supposed by the best Bible 
students that for four thousand years God the Father 
never broke the silence. From the time that Adam fell 
from the summit of Eden, until Christ came at Jordan, 
God the Father had not broken the silence. But it is 
written in the book that He came to do God's will, and 
the moment he began his ministry, God broke the si- 
lence of four thousand years. As Jesus came up out of 
the water, a voice was heard, saying, " This is my be- 
loved Son, in whom I am well pleased." O, if God is 
well pleased with Him, let us be pleased with Him. If 



WHAT THINK YE OF CHRIST? 305 

the God of heaven is well pleased with Jesus, let us be 
pleased with Him. 

Then on the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter 
wanted to build three tabernacles, one for Moses, one for 
Elias and for Christ, putting Christ on a level with Moses 
and Elias, God Almighty came in a cloud and snatched 
Moses and Elias away, and left Christ alone, and He 
broke the silence again, ''This is my beloved Son, in 
whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him." Hear Him. 

O, may we hear the voice of the Son of God to-night 
calling us from the world and from ourselves, and may 
we think well of Him! O, let us think well of Christ, 
and let us go out and publish His name, and proclaim 
salvation to a perishing world! 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 



" And He said unto them, ' Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature,' " — Mark, xvi, 15. 

I notice one young lady who is not paying attention. 
I have a text to-day that means everybody. ' ' Go ye into 
all the world and preach the gospel to every creature." 
That takes in that young lady that is thoughtless and 
careless. I am afraid she has not come here to" hear the 
Word. 

Now, the best part of the service, you know, is the text. 
There is really more power in this little text than in all 
the hymns in the hymn-book. There is more life, more 
power, in one word that Jesus Christ has said than in 
tons of the traditions of men, and in all the sermons that 
may be preached. 

Now, just let me call your attention to that text again. 
"And He said unto them, Go ye into all the world. " 
That means this city. He might have had this city in 
His mind when He said it. And the next verse says, 
"And he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, 
and he that believeth not shall be damned." 

These are not the words of any prophet. He was a 
prophet, but he was more than a prophet. They are not 
the words of a man. They are the words of the God-man. 
Christ had faced the world, and had conquered it. It was 

306 




The Last Supper. Matthew, xxvi, 26-29. 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 30Q 

resting under His feet. He had triumphed over the 
world. He had met Satan, and had conquered him. He 
had met the cross and had conquered it. He had faced 
the enemy, which is death, and conquered him. He 
had gone down into the grave, and had robbed the grave 
of its victory. Joseph's sepulcher lay behind Him now, 
empty. It is the captain of our salvation sending out 
his warriors. Around Him was gathered that handful of 
men that had been with Him in His three years of ministry. 
You can see the tears trickling over their cheeks. He is 
now going to leave them. For three long years — three 
short years they must have been — they had been in His 
company; they had associated together. But now His 
work on earth was finished, as far as He was concerned. 
He must now go up on high and commence and carry 
on the glorious work that He had begun on earth. 

In the sight of the world, these men He had around 
Him were very weak and contemptible. There was not 
a mighty man among them. In the sight of the world 
there was not a great man among them. In the sight of 
the world they were unlettered, unlearned fishermen 
from Galilee, nearly all of them, and yet He sent them 
out as lambs among wolves. " Go ye into all the world 
and preach the gospel to every creature." Don't leave 
out one. Although the gospel has been proclaimed now 
for upwards of eighteen hundred years, and has been pro- 
claimed in this country as in no other country under the 
sun for the past hundred years — there is hardly a child but 
has heard the gospel proclaimed — yet I will venture to 
say there is not a word in the English language so little 
understood as the word gospel. I venture to say if I 
should ask this audience what that word means, there is 



310 MOODY S SERMONS. 

not one out of ten that could tell. If I should say I was 
going to get off this platform and begin with this man 
there, and go through the congregation and ask every 
one what it means, many of you would get up and run 
out of the house; you would not want to expose your 
ignorance. I think I had been a partaker of the gospel 
ten years before I knew what the word meant. A great 
many have an idea that the gospel is the most doleful 
message that ever came into this world; and when you 
begin to proclaim it some men put on a face, as though 
you had brought a death warrant, or an invitation to at- 
tend some funeral, or witness an execution, or go into 
some hospital where there is some plague. A great many 
people act as if they were to be struck with a plague the 
moment you begin to talk to them about the gospel. 
The gospel of the Son of God is the best news that ever 
came from heaven to earth, the best news that was ever 
heard by mortal man. 

Now, if men really believed it, we should not have to 
preach and preach, and beg and coax them to believe it. 
It don't take men long to believe good news; but the fact 
is that the god of this world has blinded us, so that what 
is good news men think is bad news. When the angel 
came to the shepherds upon the plains of Bethlehem, the 
angel said unto them, "Fear not; for behold I bring 
you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all peo- 
ple; for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, 
a Savior which is Christ the Lord." That is the gospel. 
God has provided a Savior for man. When the world 
was lost and ruined, when there was no eye to pity, -no. 
hand to save, none to deliver, in the fullness of time God 
sent His own Son to redeem the world. That is the 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 3 I I 

gospel. The word gospel means God's spell. It is a 
time God is not imputing unto men their trespasses and 
sins, but seeking to forgive them, bringing good news, 
glad tidings of great joy. Who will believe it to-day 
and be saved? In the fifteenth chapter of First Corin- 
thians Paul says, ' ' I declare unto you the gospel, " and 
he goes on to tell what the gospel was. "Christ died 
for our sins, according to the Scriptures." That is what 
Paul called the Scriptures. Christ died, not as a mere 
martyr, as some people tell us. He did not die just to 
exhibit the love He had for the world. He did not die 
that He might convince men that He loved them. There 
was a deeper meaning in His death than that. He died, 
not as a martyr, as some people tell us, to show that He 
was willing to seal with His blood the principles and 
doctrines that He taught. Christ didn't die as Stephen 
did — a martyr — didn't die as that long line of martyrs 
have died, to defend the truth that Christ brought into 
the world. He died as man's substitute. Said he, ' ' I lay 
my life down , and I take it up again. " This idea that some 
people tell us — that Christ could not help but die! For 
eighteen months before He died He was telling us that 
He was going up to Jerusalem, and he should be delivered 
into the hands of the Gentiles, and He should be put to 
death, and on the third day He should rise again. For 
that purpose He came into the world, not only to live, 
but to die for the world, that through His death we might 
enter into eternal life. 

I want to tell you why I think the gospel is good news. 
It has taken out of my path four of the bitterest enemies 
that I have ever had, and not only my enemies, but the 
enemies of the whole human race, just swept them right 
out of the way, and they are gone. 



312 Moody's sermons. 

The first enemy I want to speak of is sin. Now, sin 
makes life bitter; sin makes our lives dark. Men may 
discuss about it, and they may deny it and talk as much 
as they have a mind to, but it don't change the fact. Sin 
has made your life and mine bitter. Not only your own 
sins, but the sins of your children, the sins of your friends, 
have brought you into many a dark hour and many a 
sore conflict, and when you take a look into the future, 
and remember that it is written, " The soul that sinneth 
it shall die," and then read again, " That all have sinned 
and come short of the glory of God," there is nothing 
very sweet in the future with that in view. But the 
gospel comes and tells me that Jesus Christ came and 
died for sin; that Jesus Christ met the penalty for sin; 
that Jesus Christ came into the world for that very pur- 
pose, to put away sin; that " He was manifested to take 
away the sin of this world." ' ' Behold the Lamb of God 
that taketh away the sin of the world. Why, the prophet 
says, as he looks forward to that time, " Out of love to 
my soul He hath- taken all my sin." I like that word 
"all," not a part of them. If I had committed a hun- 
dred sins, and God only had forgiven me ninety-nine, I 
would be just as bad off as if He had not forgiven me 
any. I have got to have all sin put away before I can 
have peace and rest. " Out of love to my soul He hath 
taken all my sins and cast them behind His back." Not 
behind my back. Satan would get at them if they were 
there, and bring them before me, and torment me with 
them. But the prophet says, " Out of love to my soul 
He hath taken all my sins, and cast them behind His 
back." How is the devil to get at them? He has got 
to get behind the Almighty's back before he can get at 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 3 I 3 

them. They will not trouble me if He has put them out 
of the way. That is good news, isn't it? That is what 
the gospel tells me, that He has put away sin. 

Another Bible illustration is that He has blotted them 
out as a cloud. Now, last night there were a great many 
clouds; you could not see a star some of the time. But 
if you look around this afternoon you cannot see a cloud. 
Can you tell me what has become of those clouds? Can 
any of your modern philosophers tell me where those 
clouds are? What has become of them? They are gone. 
You cannot find them. But the gospel tells me if I 
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, He will blot my sins 
as a thick cloud. That is good news, isn't it? 

But, better still, we read over here in Ezekiel that 
"Not one of them shall be mentioned." They are gone 
for time and for eternity. When God forgives it is 
thorough work. We talk about one forgiving, but we 
very often say, " Well, I will forgive you, but I won't 
forget it. I want you to remember that I will forgive 
you, but I won't forget it. I will remember that against 
you after all." That is not the way the Lord forgives. 
He says, "When I forgive I will not remember." To 
me that is one of the sweetest thoughts in the Bible. If 
the blood of Jesus Christ has atoned for my sins, they 
are covered for time and eternity; they are blotted out 
for time and for eternity; not one of them shall be men- 
tioned. Is not that good news, to get sin out of the 
way? 

Another Bible expression is, "I will remove them as 
far as the east is from the west." I don't know how far 
that is; can't find out; just as far as you can get them. 

Another Bible expression is, " He will cast them into 



314 Moody's sermons. 

the sea of forgetfulness. " A minister was telling me of 
his preaching from that text, and his little boy, ten years 
old, who heard the sermon, after they came home, said, 
fi Pa, when you were talking about the Lord casting sin 
into the sea, you ought to have told them that sin was 
heavy like stones, and that it would drop out of sight, or 
they might think it would float about like corks on the 
top." But He casts them into the depth of the sea. 

I think it was John Bunyan who said he was glad it 
was not a river, because a river might get dry. But He 
casts them into the sea, and into the depths of it. Ought 
we not to lift up our heads and rejoice to think that sin 
is put out of the way? It is gone for time and for eter- 
nity, for God has put it away. 

Then another enemy is death. That has been con- 
quered. When I was a little boy, I used to look upon 
death as the most terrible thing in this world I never 
thought of it that I did not tremble, and the cold chills 
used to roll over me. In that little village in Massachu- 
setts where I was born and brought up, it was the cus- 
tom when a death occurred to toll the age of the person. 
If a man was ninety years old when he died, there were 
ninety strokes of the bell. I always used to count the 
strokes of that bell. When a person very old died, I 
used to think, " Death is a good ways off." But some- 
times death would come down into the teens, and then 
death used to seem nearer. Those times used to be 
times of darkness to me. Some nights I was afraid to 
go to bed, I was afraid of death. People may say I was 
a coward, but nevertheless I was afraid of death; it was 
so terrible to me. I remember the first time I put my 
hand on the face of a corpse. A cold chill went through 
me. 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 315 

I remember once acting as pall-bearer to a schoolmate 
of mine, and I did not get over it for days and days. I 
used to look forward to that period as the darkest time 
of my life. But that is all gone now. As I go on through 
life I can say, " O death, where is thy sting?" and I 
hear a voice rolling down through the centuries, corning 
down from the cross of Christ, saying, "Buried in the 
bosom of the Son of God." He tasted death for every 
man. He took the sting of death in His bosom. Now 
I can say, "O death, where is thy sting?" If a hornet 
or a wasp should fly on your hand, you would be afraid 
it would sting. But if the sting was gone, if the sting 
was taken away, you would not be any more afraid of it 
than you would of a fly. That is just what Christ did. 
He took away the sting of death. Now, I have not got 
to die. This Adam life will pass away; this house I live 
in will be torn down; but I have ' ' a house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens." The grave may get this 
Adam coil, may get this house I live in, but I have got a 
new life as lasting as God himself. I have become a 
partaker of the divine nature. " He that believeth on 
the Son hath everlasting life." How is death going to 
touch that? Death has had his hand on Christ once; He 
never will again. Death may steal up on this platform, 
and lay his icy hand on me, and take me away out of 
this body, but I shall be clothed with immortality; I shall 
see Him and be like Him. Instead of getting a body 
that is subject to sin, I get a body that sin cannot touch, 
a resurrected and glorified body. It is the gospel that 
brings me such news. My friends, you had better be- 
lieve it and get the benefit of it. 

Then there is another enemy out of the way. I used 



3 16 Moody's sermons. 

to think the grave was the most dark and gloomy place 
in the world. But that gloom is all gone now; and 
when I lay away a friend in Christ, I go to the grave and 
lay him down there, and I can hear a voice coming up 
from the grave, "Because He liveth ye shall live also." 
Jesus Christ conquered the grave. He went down into 
the grave and measured its depths, and they laid Him in 
Joseph's sepulcher; but on the third morning, the glori- 
ous resurrection morning, He rose again. He conquered 
the grave. The grave has no victory; it has lost its vic- 
tory. So we can say now, ' ' O grave, where is thy vic- 
tory?" The Son of God has robbed the grave of its 
victory. That is what the gospel tells me. That is 
good news, isn't it? 

The last enemy is the judgment. I used to think it 
would be terrible to have to go up there before the great 
white throne, and have all the sins I ever committed 
blazed out before the assembled universe. But now I 
find not one of them is to be mentioned. Not only that, 
but the judgment has already passed to the believer, and 
I was judged in Christ. Christ took my place. He died 
in my stead. He suffered for my sins. He became the 
sinner's substitute. "He was wounded for 6ur trans- 
gressions, He was bruised for our iniquities; the chastise- 
ment of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes 
we are healed." If Christ was punished for me, I am 
not going to be punished. God is not going to demand 
payment twice, is He? If a man owed me, and some one 
else paid it, I could not collect it from that man, could I? 
Now, Christ has paid the penalty. Christ has suffered 
for the sins of the world, and when I believe that, I need 
not fear the judgment. 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 317 

But I can imagine some of you say, " What will you 
do with that passage where it says, ' Every one must 
give an account of the deeds done in the body?' " I 
think that is very plain. Paul there is writing to the 
church, and writing to believers, and that is an account 
of stewardship, a judgment for rewards. Every man 
will be brought into judgment for rewards. And some 
of you Christians that come into the church and live ten, 
fifteen or twenty years, and never lift your hand for 
Christ — hearers of the word, not doers — you don't think 
there will be much reward for you, do you? Some peo- 
ple want to know if there are degrees of reward in heaven. 
I think every cup will be full, but I think there will be 
some very small cups there. I think Paul will enjoy 
more than some Christians will. I think he will have 
greater capacity for enjoying than some of us Christians. 
But I think there will be a great many people who will 
just barely get into heaven. They have hardly lifted their 
voices for the Son of God. And yet if a man believes on 
the Lord Jesus Christ with his heart, He has promised to 
give him eternal life. That is the beginning; that is the 
first step; and we cannot do a thing to please God until 
we do that, until we believe on His Son; and the mo- 
ment we believe with all our heart on His Son, the new 
life begins, and it does not begin until we take that step; 
and if a man says, "I will not believe; I will not receive 
Jesus Christ as my Savior; I will not take Him as my 
way; I will not take Him as my truth; I will go and find 
some other way," I believe that man is making the mis- 
take that we read of where it says, " He that climbeth 
up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber." 
The only way into the kingdom of God is this one way, 



3 18 Moody's sermons. 

4 ' Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to 
every creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall 
be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned." 
Now, there is a universal offer. If any man says, " I 
don't like your gospel, because it is too narrow," and I 
very often hear people say that, I just meet them with 
that text, ' ' Go ye into all the world and preach the 
gospel to every creature." There is a universal offer. 
The rich and the poor, the high and the low, all are to 
have the gospel preached to them. And preach what? 
Why, that Christ died; that is the gospel. I do not 
believe He wants us to come and preach to you the gos- 
pel, and then does not give you power to believe it; do 
you? Do you think the Lord sends His messengers 
out all over the earth to preach His glorious gospel, and 
then has constituted man so he cannot believe it? That 
is what many people tell us. It was not many hours ago 
that that very thing was brought up; that some men are 
so constituted they cannot believe. Away with such 
doctrine! A man comes to me, and wants to have me go 
to his house, and take tea with him to-night. " I would 
like very much to go with you, sir, but the fact is, I can't 
go." " Have you got some other engagement?" "No." 
" Why can't you go then?" " Well, I don't feel just like 
it." "What is the matter? Are you sick?" No, sir, 
never was any better than I am now." " Well, what do 
you mean?" "Well, the fact is, I am so constituted I 
can't believe you want me." There is a good deal of 
sense in that, isn't there? So when the gospel of the 
Son of God is preached, people say they are so consti- 
tuted they can't believe it. Away with such doctrine! 
"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 319 

every creature. He that believeth," and there the line 
is drawn. Men can believe if they will. It is not 
because men cannot believe; it is because men will not 
believe. " Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have 
life." Some one has drawn the picture of Peter saying, 
" Lord, you don't really mean that? You don't mean 
that we should go back to Jerusalem and preach the 
gospel to those men who murdered you?" "Yes," says 
Christ, " I want to have you tarry in Jerusalem until the 
power comes, and preach to those Jerusalem sinners first. 
Let those men that murdered Me have the gospel 
preached to them first." " But, Lord they may be so 
constituted they can't believe." "But you are going to 
preach the gospel. That is your work. Go ye into all 
the world, and proclaim the gospel to every creature." 
"What!" says Peter, "preach the gospel to that man 
that drove those nails into your hands and feet?" "Yes, 
go and hunt up that man that drove those nails into my 
hands and my feet, and tell him that I forgive him freely; 
that I love him with an everlasting love; that I will give 
him a seat in my kingdom if he will believe on Me. Go 
hunt up that man that drove that spear into my side, and 
tell him there is a nearer way to my heart than that. 
Tell him that there is nothing but love in my heart for 
him, and that if he will believe on me, he shall have a 
seat in my kingdom. Go hunt up that man that brought 
that cruel crown of thorns and put it on my brow. Go 
tell him that if he will believe on Me, I will put a crown 
on his head, and there shall not be a thorn in it. Go 
hunt up that man that spat in my face, and tell him that 
I love him, and that he can be saved if he will believe 
the gospel and repent from his sins and turn unto Me, 



320 Moody's sermons. 

Preach the gospel to every creature." John Bunyan de- 
scribes the scene, that when Peter stood up there on the 
day of Pentecost preaching, and the crowd was flocking 
around him, one came up and said, " Peter, Peter, can 
I be saved? I am the man that spat in His face." 
" Yes," says Peter, " He told me to preach the gospel to 
every creature, and that means you." Another comes 
pressing up through the crowd. "Peter, do you think 
there is any hope for me? Do you think I can be saved? 
I am the man that took that rod out of his hand and 
brought it down over that cruel crown of thorns. Can I 
be saved?" "Yes," says Peter, " He told me to preach 
the gospel to every creature." Then comes the centurion, 
and he says, " I am the man that put Him to death. I 
had charge of the execution. I gave orders that those 
nails should be driven into His hands and feet. Peter, 
can I be saved?" "Yes," says Peter, " He told me to 
preach the gospel to every creature, and he that believeth 
and is baptized shall be saved, and he that believeth not 
shall be damned. " 

My friends, is not that a universal offer? Is not that 
invitation extended to every creature? If a man in this 
gospel meeting is lost, whose fault is it? Is it God's 
fault? What more can He do for us than He has done? 
He sent His prophets, and we killed them. He sent 
His own Son, and we murdered Him. And after He 
had gone up on High, He sent the Holy Spirit to con- 
vict us of sin; and the Holy Spirit is here on the earth 
at the present time. 

So, my friends, to-day you can believe the gospel if 
you will. And the gospel is this, that Christ has come 
to meet your need. There is not a need that you feel in 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 321 

your hear* to-day, but that Christ can meet if you let 
Him. G'»d sent Him here to meet man's need. "He 
healed all them that had need of healing." Do you need 
it? Is th i heart heavy and sad on account of sin? Let 
Jesus Chi st come to meet your need. He is so anxious 
to save v sn, you have not got to ask Him; He stands at 
the door of your heart now offering you salvation, and 
all yo\i have to do is just to take it and live. 

When I was in Glasgow, a lady came to me and said, 
"Mr. Moody, you are all the time talking about take, 
tak \, take — all you have to do is to take — as though we 
we 'e to take a gift. Is that word take in the Bible? I 
h?. r e been hunting through the Bible, and I can't find it 
a/iywhere."' "Well, I am very glad to tell you it is 
here. I don't have to manufacture texts. It would take 
a lifetime, it would take a thousand years, to just begin 
to touch the texts in that book. We can't begin to use 
what we have got." She said, " I wish you would just 
show it to me." So I turned over into the last chapter 
of the Bible and read, "The Spirit and the bride say, 
Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let 
him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him 
take the water of life freely." That is broad enough, 
isn't it? I can imagine after the Lord got up to glory, 
He could see that after Paul wrote a few of his epistles, 
some one would say, "I can't be saved, because I don't 
belong to the elect." He saw that some one was going 
to stumble over the doctrine of election. So the Lord 
came down one Sunday; John was in the Spirit on the 
Lord's day there on Patmos; and John and his Master 
got together; can't tell whether it was in Patmos or in 
heaven. The Lord came to John and said, "Now 



322 MOODY S SERMONS. 

John you just write these things." And he began to 
write; and he kept on writing. " Now," says he, "be- 
fore you seal it, put in one more invitation so broad that 
there shall not be a man in the world that will think he 
is left out. " He might have seen some one down here 
in this city stumbling over the doctrine of election. So 
He worded the invitation so that every man would be 
included. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." The 
church is the bride; and the Spirit of God unites with the 
church and says, " Come." "And let him that heareth 
say, Come." If you have heard it, take up the cry and 
ask others. " And let him that is athirst come." Some 
people say, "I am deaf, and I can't hear." A great many 
people say they are not thirsty enough. They say they 
are anxious to be anxious. Isn't that a strange state- 
ment? "I am anxious to be anxious." And so they 
think they are not thirsty enough. ' ' Let him that 
heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. 
And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," 
And if God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, says, 
"Let him come," who is going to stop him? All the 
devils in hell could not stop that little boy there from 
coming and taking the water of life to-day if he will. 
There is nothing to hinder you if you will. The Lord 
will give you legions of angels to help you take the water 
of life if you want it. You can take the water of life to- 
day. You can be blessed to-day if you will. You can 
have every sin of your life swept out of your way, and 
get victory over the world, the flesh, the devil to-day if 
you will. 

"Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to 
every creature." That means every one of us here. The 



PREACH THE GOSPEL. 323 

question is to-day, what will you do with the gosp.el of 
the Son of God? What will you do with this offer? 
He comes to every person here and says, " I want to 
forgive you. I want to bless you. " Now, you can 
spurn the offer, you can refuse it, or you can let Him 
bless you. 

I read an account some time ago of a man in Russia 
who became a wild, reckless prodigal. His father was 
very rich, and his father got him a commission in the 
army. He thought if he sent him away from his old 
associates he might reform. That is a mistake a great 
many people make. They think if they can get them 
away from their old comrades they will break off from 
their sins. You can't get away from the sin that is in 
you. Christ is the only one that can give you victory 
over sin. This father put his boy in the army in the 
hope that it might do him good. But he went on a 
great deal worse in the army than when he was out. 
He gambled and spent all the money he could get hold 
of, and all he could borrow. The laws of that country 
are very rigid about the payment of debts. If a man 
can not pay his debts he has to go to prison. This 
young man had been gambling and got in debt, and he 
had got to the end of his rope, as we would say. He 
could not go any further. And one night he sat in the 
barracks; he had to meet that day, and there was only 
one way he could meet the debt. He could sell his com- 
mission; but if he sold his commission he would have to 
go home in disgrace, and meet his old associates and that 
loving father. His heart was broken. He was coming 
to himself, and beginning to see what he had brought 
himself to. So he sat down there in his barracks that 



324 Moody's sermons. 

night and took a piece of paper and a pen and began to 
put down his debts, and reckoned up to see where he 
was. He put down a long column and footed it up. It 
was a large amount; and one of the largest debts had to 
be met the next day. He wept like a child over that 
account, and wrote underneath, "Who is to pay the 
debt?" and then laid his head down upon his desk and 
wept, and at last he went to sleep. That night the czar 
of the Russias, dressed in disguise, passed through the 
barracks to see what the soldiers were doing, and he 
came into this man's barracks and found him asleep. 
His candle was burning very faintly. It was very late 
in the night. The czar took up that paper, and he sus- 
pected what it meant. He could see the marks of dissi- 
pation upon the young man. He took up his pen and 
wrote right underneath, the word ' ' Nicholas, " and passed 
on. When the young man awoke from his sleep, what 
was his surprise to see that signature, "Nicholas." 
What does this mean? That is the handwriting of the 
emperor. How came it here? He could not make out 
what it meant. But early the next morning the empe- 
ror sent the money around, and the debt was paid. 

I simply tell you this as an illustration. You can just 
put down all your sins from childhood up that you can 
think of, and write right underneath, "The blood of 
Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth from all sin." That is 
the gospel. His blood was shed for that very purpose, 
and your sins can be covered to-day if you will have 
them covered up. You can be saved this hour if you 
will. You can believe the gospel and be saved to-day if 
you will. 




Beyond. 



HEAVEN, 



A great many people have an idea that we know noth- 
ing about the future state, and that we are to be left in 
darkness. A great many professed Christians will talk 
as if it was all speculation the moment you begin to talk 
to them about the future and about heaven. 

Now, I firmly believe if the Lord had wanted us to be 
in darkness about the future, there would not have been 
anything in Scripture about it. If the Lord had not want- 
ed us to study the Scripture and find out anything about 
heaven, it wouldn't have been recorded. I believe that 
all Scripture is given by inspiration, and that all is 
profitable from one end of the Bible to the other; and if 
persons that are in darkness about heaven would just 
take up a concordance and the Bible, and go from one end 
of the Bible to the other, and see what is in Scripture 
about heaven, I think they would be perfectly amazed. 

When I was in Dublin, I heard of a man there who 
never had looked into the Bible, but he had lost his only 
son, and every night after that that man could be seen in 
his little cottage with a light searching the Bible. Every 
hour he could get away from his business he was looking 
into the word of God. Some one asked him what he 

327 



328 Moody's sermons. 

was doing it for, and he said he was trying to find out 
where his Johnny had gone. 

I suppose all this congregation have departed friends, 
and I think we ought to be interested enough to know 
where they have gone. When I was in Great Britain 
I met fathers and mothers that had sons in this country; 
they were very anxious to hear about this country; they 
would listen for hours if I would talk to them about this 
country, because they had loved ones here. 

A minister lost his child, and a brother minister came 
to the funeral to officiate, and when he got through the 
father got up and said that years ago he used to look out 
across the river that flowed in front of his house. He 
looked over on the other side of the river and he said 
there were people there he did not know; he took no in- 
terest in that community, because they were strangers to 
him; but one day his daughter went over there to live; 
she left the home and was married and settled down, and 
he said when the child went over there to live, he became 
suddenly interested in that community; and said he, "Now 
I have got another child who has gone over another river, 
and heaven seems dearer to me to-day than it ever has 
before." 

The trouble is, we are so busy in this world, we have 
so much to think about, so many cares, so much pleas- 
ure, so much of the world, that we don't stop to think 
about where we are going or what our future state is 
to be. 

Now, to-day let us remember that it is not all specula- 
tion, that it is not all fiction. We have associated 
with skeptics and unbelievers so much that we even 
doubt the existence of heaven. We don't believe that it 



HEAVEN. 329 

is real. I don't think we would have to urge men to let 
go of the things of time if they really believed that these 
things were eternally true, and that Christ has really 
gone to prepare a place for us. 

I remember, soon after I was converted, an infidel got 
hold of me, and he wanted to know how it was that 
when I prayed, I always addressed my prayer as if God 
was above me. He said that God was in one place as 
much as in another, that God was everywhere. I did 
not know much about the Bible then, and I must confess 
I was a little confused the next time I went to pray, and 
it seemed as if I was praying to space — just to the air; 
it seemed as if I hadn't any one to pray to. I could not 
locate God. But since I have got better acquainted with 
my Bible, I find that it is right for us when we approach 
the throne of mercy to locate God. Heaven is a location. 
This idea that heaven is everywhere and nowhere is com- 
ing from the evil one. It is a doctrine that has been 
taught by those that believe that there is no heaven. 

Now, just turn for a moment to the twenty-sixth chap- 
ter of Deuteronomy, and fifteenth verse. "Look down 
from thy holy habitation, from heaven, and bless thy 
people in Israel, and the land which thou hast given us, 
as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that floweth 
with milk and honey." 

Heaven, I believe, is as much a place as this city is. I 
believe that it is located, and that God has a dwelling- 
place. To be sure, we say that God is here with his 
Spirit, the same as we say the sun has been shining in 
this city; but the astronomers tell us the sun is ninety- 
five millions of miles away. But we must bear in mind 



33° Moody's sermons. 

that God is a person, and if He is a person, He must 
have a dwelling-place. Now, we find here in this chap- 
ter we just read that Moses prayed that God would look 
down from heaven. 

Then, we find in the prayer of the Lord Jesus, "Our 
Father which art in heaven " — not on earth, but "which 
art in heaven." 

Then we find in Revelation that it is called a city, 
and we find Abraham looking for "that city which 
hath foundation, whose builder and maker is God." He 
believed that was real. The well- watered plains of 
Sodom did not have any attraction for Abraham. Why? 
Because with the eye of faith he saw a better country — 
a city that had not any cemetery. Think of that ! There is 
no such city as that on this continent. If there could 
be a city found in this world that had not a cemetery, 
what a rush there would be to it! Not only that, but it 
is a city where sin cannot enter. Think of that ! Noth- 
ing that defileth shall enter that city. It is a city where 
sorrow is a stranger, and where tears never flow. A 
city without tears — think of that! Think of the tears 
that have flowed in this city! Think of the sorrow that 
is represented by this audience to-day. If each one 
could open his own heart and tell out his own sorrows, 
what a dark book it would make, wouldn't it? How 
filled with sorrow and with burdens! In that city there 
shall be no sorrow; there shall be no tears, and there 
shall be no death there. Death will be a stranger. Ah, 
what a city! Is not that worth living for? Some gen- 
eral said when he came in sight of Damascus, and the 
people fled and left the city, "If they will not fight 
for that city, what will they fight for ?" And if men 



HEAVEN. 331 

will not live for heaven what will they live for ? 
Let us look a moment at John's description of that 
place — Revelation, xx, 21: "And the twelve gates were 
twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl. And 
the street of the city was pure gold, as if it were trans- 
parent glass, and I saw no temple therein, for the Lord 
God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And 
the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to 
shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and 
the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them 
which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the 
kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it; 
and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for 
there shall be no night there." On a little gravestone in 
a cemetery where a blind child was buried was put these 
words, " No night." She lived in perpetual night here — 
in perpetual darkness; but the thought that filled her mind, 
that animated her and lifted her up out of her troubles 
and sorrows, was that she was going to a. land where 
there is no night. "And they shall bring the glory and 
honor of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise 
enter into it any thing that defileth; neither whatsoever 
worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which 
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." 

There is a great difference between the heavenly and 
the earthly paradise. In this earthly paradise we find 
Adam driven out, but we shall go no more out forever. 
We find Adam driven away from the tree of life, but in 
this city we shall have a right to the tree of life, and 
we shall eat of that tree and live forever. We cannot 
be tempted there. In this earthly paradise Adam was 
tempted and lost all. The tempter will be shut out of 



33 2 Moody's sermons. 

that city. Nothing that defileth can enter there. Thank 
God for what is in store for those that will put their 
trust in Him! 

But I have had this question raised: What does Paul 
mean about the third heaven? Are there three degrees? 
Now, the Hebrews in their writings acknowledge three 
heavens. The first was where the showers come, and 
where the birds fly. The second was the firmament 
where the sun, moon and stars are. The third was the 
dwelling-place of God. When Paul spoke about the 
third heaven, that is what he meant. 

Now, turn for a moment to Second Chronicles, seventh 
chapter, twelfth verse: "And the Lord appeared to Sol- 
omon by night and said unto him, ' I have heard thy 
prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house 
of sacrifice. If I shut up heaven that there be no rain, 
or if I command the locusts to devour up the land, or if 
I send pestilence among my people, if my people, which 
are called by my name, shall humble themselves and pray 
and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then 
will I hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and will 
heal their land. Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine 
ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place." 
We find that God says here, " I will hear prayer that is 
offered in this place." If he brings famine and pestilence 
upon the land, on account of their backsliding, and on 
account of their sins, if they will humble themselves and 
confess their sins, and turn from them, then, He says, 
"I will hear in heaven, my dwelling-place, and I will 
answer their prayer, and I will turn their captivity." I 
believe that God has done that all these thousands of 
years. Every time we have wandered away from God, 



HEAVEN. 333 

and the heavens seem to be shut, and we seem to have 
no communion with God, it is because some sin has come 
in, and God has hid his face. And what we want in the 
church to-day is to turn from our sin back to God, and 
He will hear our cry; and he will give us abundance of 
rain. God is not so far away but that he can hear pray- 
er. There has been a good deal of speculation about the 
distance from this earth to heaven. People often try to 
find out something about it. If we don't know just the 
distance there is one thing we do know, that is that it is 
not so far but God can hear a poor sinner pray. There 
is never a tear shed on this earth but God has seen it. 
There never has been a sigh but God has heard it. When 
Daniel besought that he might understand his vision, 
Gabriel appeared in his presence to interpret it before he 
had finished his prayer. Heaven is not so far away after 
all. If we are living right, we shall be so near heaven 
that we will get communication from there very often. 
We find the publican going up into the temple made a 
very short prayer, but it was long enough to reach heaven, 
and he went down to his house justified. We find again, 
when Solomon dedicated the temple — First Kings, eighth 
chapter, thirteenth verse — he prays, ''Hear Thou in 
heaven, Thy dwelling-place." 

If I was going off to Australia or Japan, or some other 
foreign country, to spend the rest of my days, I would 
want to know all about the climate and all about the so- 
ciety. I would want to know all about the advantages 
of that country, if I did not expect to live there more 
than ten, fi fteen or twenty years. We know we do not 
live but a little while. Life is but a vapor. It is but an 
inch of time as eternal ages roll on. A few more rolling 



334 MOODY S SERMONS. 

suns, and we are landed into another world. 

Now, the question is, who are we going to have for 
society there? We are clearly taught in these passages, 
and a good many others that God the Father is there, 
and that he is a person, that He has a location, that He 
lives in heaven, and that we shall see Him and be with 
Him, because we find all through the Scriptures that 
Christ is with the Father, and They are one and His 
prayer was that His disciples might be with Him. 

In the seventh chapter of Acts and the fifty-fifth verse 
you will find that Christ is there. The disciples saw 
Him when He went up. People say we should not look 
upon God as being above us. Christ went up. A cloud 
received Him out of their sight; and those men of Galilee 
stood there gazing up into heaven. Two men came down, 
and they said, " Why stand ye gazing up into heaven, 
for this same Jesus whom ye seek was taken up from you 
into heaven, and so shall He come in like manner. 

Now, we find in the seventh chapter of Acts that Ste- 
phen, the first martyr that laid down his life — that was 
willing to seal his testimony with his blood — when they 
were stoning him, and he was fighting, as it were, the 
battle of life single-handed and alone, he was testifying 
and there could not any one resist his testimony — it was 
so perfectly overwhelming, so powerful; the mighty Spirit 
of God resting upon him, they could not resist his testi- 
mony; and while he was giving a clear testimony for the 
Son of God, standing up here in this dark ( world for 
Christ, he saw heaven opened and he saw Christ sitting 
at the right hand of God. I can imagine, as I see Ste- 
phen fighting single-handed and alone, the Son of God 
stood up to give him a welcome. He had not forgotten 



HEAVEN. 335 

his disciples down here. He is still interested in his 
church on earth, and when Stephen gave such a good 
confession, I can imagine that the Son of God stood up 
to watch the conflict and to give him a welcome. Heaven 
is not so far away, is it? It was not so far but that Ste- 
phen could look from Jerusalem right into heaven. Some 
people think that this was his imagination, but it was a 
glorious imagination, was it not? Many men were fired 
by Stephen's zeal to go and lay down their lives for the 
gospel. Would to God we had men in these days that 
had such courage for Christ that they would be willing to 
die, if needs be, rather than give up the truth. 

Now, we have Christ there. I believe that is what is 
going to make heaven so attractive. It will not be the 
jasper walls and the pearly gates, and its streets paved 
with transparent gold. We know nothing about the kind 
of gold they have up there. It is transparent gold and it 
is very common. But that is not what is going to make 
heaven so attractive. What will make heaven so at- 
tractive will be the loved ones that are there. What is 
it that makes your home and mine so dear? Is it because 
we have them well furnished? Ah, that is not it. You 
go up this avenue into the most gilded palace there, and 
you take one, two or three out of the family, and it be- 
comes a gilded sepulcher, and men say, "I don't want 
to live there any longer; I have got tired of it." It is 
not your beautiful grounds and your beautiful pictures on 
the wall, your beautiful works of art, that make home. 
That is not it. It is the loved ones that are there. I re- 
member after being away from home sometime, I went 
back to see my widowed mother and found her not at 
home. I had longed to get there, but home had lost its 



336 Moody's sermons. 

charms. What did I care for home if mother was not 
there? She was the loved one. And what is going to 
make heaven so attractive are those that are there. 
We shall see God who gave up His Son and see the Lord 
Jesus himself. It seems to me, if God will permit me to 
get one look at Him, it will pay me for all I have done 
down here. 

There was a friend telling me, when I was in Brooklyn 
of a father whose wife was very sick, and their little 
child was not old enough to understand about the sick- 
ness, and it was troubling the mother, so they took the 
child away to one of the neighbors. The child never had 
been separated from the mother before that, and it kept 
teasing to be taken home. The mother kept growing 
worse and they could not take it home. At last, the 
mother died, and they talked it over and thought it best 
to let the child remember the mother as she saw her 
alive, and the mother was buried without the child see- 
ing her. They then took the child home, and the mo- 
ment the child got into the house she ran into the parlor 
and cried, " Mamma, mamma." But mamma was not 
there; and she went from one room to another, all over 
the house; went to the closet where her mother some- 
times took her to pray, looked in there. Then she be- 
gan to weep and said, " Take me back." Home had lost 
all its sweetness, all its attraction. What would heaven 
be without Christ? What would heaven be without God, 
who gave up Christ for as? It is the loved ones that are 
there. That is what will make heaven so attractive. 

I think if we thought more of heaven and those that 
are there we would not be so earthly minded. We 
would remember that we are merely passing through 



HEAVEN. 337 

this earth; we will only be here a night, as it were; we 
will soon be in another world. 

But not only are we going to see God the Father and 
Christ the Son there, but we are told that angels are 
there. I have not got time to call your attention to many 
passages, but we find, in the eighteenth chapter of Mat- 
thew and the tenth verse, that Christ says, " Tha+ in 
heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Fa- 
ther which is in heaven. " We will have good society when 
we get there. We will have the society of the angels, 
not fallen angels, but those angels that are pure and holy. 
Then in another place it says that the angels of heaven 
do not know the time that God has appointed. And 
then Gabriel, when Zachariah doubted his word — Ga- 
briel had never been doubted before; he had come from a 
world where there were no lies, no deception, no fraud; 
and I suppose he did not understand Zachariah when he 
doubted his word. Zachariah could not believe that he 
was to be the father of John the Baptist, and he wanted 
some token. "Why," says Gabriel, "I am Gabriel, 
who standeth in the presence of the Almighty." He had 
never been doubted before. " You want a token, do you? 
Well, I will give it to you; you shall not speak until that 
child is born." Struck dumb for nine months! Some 
people want some other token, some other evidence that 
God's word is true besides the Bible. Let us not ask for 
any other token. God has said it; that is enough. Has 
He not said it, and shall He not make it good? Take 
away the Bible from the earth, and the earth becomes 
dark as midnight. 

Then, not only are the angels there, but I believe that 
the saints, those that have died in Christ, are there. 



338 Moody's sermons. 

There is a class of people who say that the soul becomes 
unconscious and sleeps until the resurrection. I cannot 
believe that. There is another class of people who tell 
us that in fact there is no hereafter at all, and that when 
we die that is the last of us. I will not take up those 
things now, but I just want to call your attention to a 
few passages of Scripture that I think will help us. A 
great many people are anxious to know where their 
loved ones are, and whether we shall know them when 
we see them again. There is one passage of Scripture 
that settles that in my mind: ''I shall be satisfied when 
I awake in His likeness." If I want to know my friends, 
I will know them because He will satisfy me. There will 
not be one solitary want that God will not gratify then. 
Moses and Elias were known on the Mount of Transfig- 
uration. They had not lost their identity. T think there 
is no doubt about our knowing our friends there, and I 
think we shall love them better there, and we shall be 
forever with them. No separation takes place in that 
city. 

But now let us look at the twelfth chapter of John and 
the twenty-sixth verse. "If any man serve Me let him 
follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant 
be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor." 
Now, I do not think that death is going to separate us. I 
do not think that I am going to be with Christ and work 
for Him for twenty, or thirty, or forty years and then be 
separated from Him. I believe the apostles are with 
Him. They may not be satisfied yet, because they have 
not got their resurrected bodies. 

Let us turn to the seventeenth chapter of John and the 
24th verse, that wonderful prayer, the last prayer that 



HEAVEN. 339 

He made here with His disciples. "Father, I will that 
they also whom Thou hast given me, be with me where I 
am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast 
given me, for Thou lovedest me before the foundation of 
the world." Now, if a man receive eternal life when he 
is converted, and that is what God says he receives, how 
are you going to bury eternal life in the grave? All the 
undertakers in the world could not build a coffin big 
enough to bury eternal life. That life cannot go into the 
grave. That life cannot sleep until the resurrection. It 
is life without end — eternal life, and that cannot die. 
Death has had his hands on Jesus Christ once; he never 
will have his hands on Him again. He tasted death once. 
He conquered death. He bound him hand and foot. He 
went down into the grave and overcame him. Now, if I 
have got Christ's life in me, how is death going to touch 
that life? It does not say that I am going to get eternal 
life when I die, nor at the general resurrection. " He 
that believeth on the Son hath life." I have not got to 
wait. " He that believeth on the Son hath life." H-a-t-h 
hath — present tense. 

I think Paul did not have the idea that his soul was 
going to be in the grave eighteen hundred years. His 
body has been in. the grave now eighteen hundred years. 
Do you think that a man that lived with his Master as 
Paul did, and went through what he did, has been away 
from the Lord and in an unconscious state these eighteen 
hundred years? It don't sound like it when he wrote to 
those Philippians, ''For I am in a strait betwixt two, 
having a desire to depart and to be " — in the grave eigh- 
teen hundred years? The idea of his soul going down 
into the grave with those worms never entered his mind, 



340 MOODY S SERMONS. 

" For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to de- 
part and to be with Christ, which is far better." Absent 
from the body, present with the Lord. The day that 
Nero took his head, the Son of God took his soul into 
glory with Him. There is no doubt about that. " If this 
earthly house is dissolved, I have a building, not made 
with hands, eternal in the heavens." This idea that 
death is going to separate us from the Master, we want 
to dismiss now and forever. 

I got a card some time ago from a friend of mine 
in London, that lost a very dear mother; and instead of 
putting on the card a black border, as most of those Eng- 
lish people do, he put on gold. They talk about that 
city being paved with gold . Why shouldn't we put on 
gold instead of black? I think it is a great deal better. 
His sainted mother had gone up on high. It says here 
on this card: 

O! call it not death, 'tis life begun, 
For the waters are passed, and home is won; 
The ransomed spirit hath reached the shore, 
Where they weep and suffer and sin no more. 

She is safe in her Father's house above, 
In the place prepared by her Savior's love, 
To depart from the world of sin and strife, 
To be with Jesus, yes, this is life ! 

In that same letter he sent me another little card, 
" The Voice from Heaven," as if his mother had spoken 
back from that world. I suppose many of you have seen 
it, but it is worth reading a good many times. I have 
read it a number of times. 

I shine in the light of God ; 

His likeness stamps my brow, 
Through the valley of death my feet have trod ; 

I reign in glory now. 



HEAVEN. 341 

It we have friends that have gone over the river, let 
us not be mourning, but let us go out and work for 
the Master. 

No breaking heart is here, 

No keen and thrilling pain, 
No wasted cheek where the frequent tear 

Hath rolled, and left its stain. 
I have reached the joys of heaven ; 

I am one of the sainted band ; 
For my head a crown of gold is given, 

And a harp is in my hand. 
I have heard the song they sing, 

Whom Jesus hath set free. 

Ah, think of that new song, the song of Moses and 
the Lamb ! I am afraid, Mr. Sankey, they will not want 
to hear you; that song will be much sweeter than any 
you sing — that chorus of a hundred and forty thousand. 
We must learn to like music down here. I pity a pro- 
fessed Christian who does not like music. It is the only 
thing we know of their doing up there. It is the occu- 
pation of heaven. 

I have heard the song they sing, 

Whom Jesus hath set free ; 
And the glorious walls of heaven ring 

With my new born melody. 
No sin, no grief, no pain, 

Safe in my happy home, 
My fears all fled, my doubts all slain, 

My hour of triumph is come. 
O friends of mortal years, 

The trusted and '.he true, 
Ye are watching still in the valley of tears, 

But I wait to welcome you. 
Do I forget ? O, no, 

For memory's golden chain 
Shall bind my heart to the hearts below 

'Till they meet and touch again. 



342 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Each link is strong and bright, 

And love's electric flame 
Flows freely down, like a river of light, 

To the world from whence I came. 
Do you mourn when another star 

Shines out from the glittering sky ? 
Do you weep when the raging voice of war 

And the storms of conflict die? 
Then why should your tears run down, 

And your hearts be sorely riven, 
For another gem in the Savior's crown, 

Another star in heaven ? 

When that man sent me those little cards, I said, 
' 'Really he has got the right idea. It is life after all. 
She has just gone up there to live forever — gone into a 
world where death can never come." 

So if we take this idea of it, that a new life is simply 
that we cannot die, cannot perish, that we are going to 
live forever with Him, then we see that enemy is out of 
the way. I had a little child in my Sunday-school dis- 
trict, whose father and mother were infidels, and they 
said to me the last time I was talking with them that 
they didn't know where it was that child heard the name 
of God, unless it was when the father blasphemed. The 
little child was so young it could not speak its own name. 
Its name was Julia. The friends were gathered around 
its couch, and the little child, as they thought, had died, 
and they stood there weeping. Its eyes were closed, 
but all at once the little child opened them, when a 
beautiful glow was noticed in them, and reaching up both 
hands, she said, " Dulia is tumin', Dod, Dulia is tumin," 
and passed away. Who taught that little child there 
was a God? I believe the Lord Jesus lifted the curtain, 
and that little child saw God, saw the loving Father 



HEAVEN. 343 

ready to take it to His bosom. So, my friends, let us 
believe that when our loved ones, our little ones, pass 
away, the Savior has a place for them, and He will take 
better care of them than we can, and they are with Him. 

A friend was telling me some time ago, and it burned 
into my heart as a father. He said a man had a son that 
was sick, but he did not consider him dangerously ill. He 
went down to the store as usual, and when he came home 
at noon he found his wife weeping, and he said, ' ' What is 
the trouble ?" She said, " There has been a great change 
in our boy, since you left this morning. I am afraid it 
is death. I wish you would go in and see him, for if it 
is death I can't tell him." The mother thought the little 
boy would be afraid of death. The father went in and 
sat down on the edge of the bed and placed his hand up- 
on the forehead of the boy. He could feel the cold, damp 
sweat of night gathering, and he said to him, "My son, 
do you know you are dying? " ' ' No, father; is this death I 
feel stealing over me ?" " Yes, you are dying." "Will 
I die to-day?" "Yes, my son, you cannot live until 
night." The little fellow smiled and said, "I will be 
with Jesus to-night, won't I, father ?" The father said 
" Yes, my boy, you will be with the Savior to-night." 
The father turned his head to conceal the tears. The 
little boy saw the tears trickling down his father's face, 
and he said, " Father, don't weep for me; when I get to 
heaven, I will go right straight to Jesus, and I will tell 
Him that, ever since I can remember, you have tried to 
lead me to Him." 

O, how sweet to have our children go away from 
earth, feeling that there is One that will take care of them 
and provide for all their wants, and keep them safe until 



344 MOODY S SERMONS. 

we get home! O, may God help us to live for heaven, 
so that our children shall have confidence in what we 
profess; that they may believe there is a future state; 
that there is a heaven for them! And let me say, if 
there is a father or mother here to-day that is without 
Jesus Christ, that has no hope beyond the grave, won't 
you just seek Him to-day, and set your heart and affec- 
tions on things above? 




* 



- 





The Heavenly Choir. 



HEAVEN. 

SECOND HEAVEN. 



We find, in the tenth chapter of Luke and twentieth 
verse, that the names of all the disciples are recorded 
above. He sent out two-by-two " other seventy also." 
They went into the different towns and villages. They 
were elated with their success, and rejoiced, for the very 
devils were subject to them. They were gifted with the 
spirit of Almighty God. But Christ seems to have ob- 
jected to this spirit of rejoicing in them. He says, 
" Rather rejoice that your names are written in heaven." 
Some say, " If we are not saved until the judgment day 
how can our names be already written in heaven?" A 
friend once told me that in China they had two books in 
their courts, one that they called the book of death, and 
the other the book of life; and whenever a criminal was 
sentenced to death and 'executed, his name was put down 
in the book of death, and when he is found not guilty his 
name is recorded in the book of life. 

Every man, woman and child in this audience to-day 
have their names written in the book of death and the 
book of life. When we are born of God, we pass from 
death unto life. Now, as I said the other day, it is the 
privilege of a child of God to know. Where there is 
doubt about any important question, there can be no rest. 
If you have a child sick, hanging in the balance between 

347 



348 MOODY'S SERMONS. 

life and death, there is no rest, no peace, as long as you 
are uncertain whether it will get well or not. If I get 
on a train to go to a certain city, and I can not tell 
whether the train is going to that or some other city, 
there is no rest, no peace. And this idea that we can 
not tell whether we are going to heaven or hell is a false 
idea. The moment you begin to talk to some people 
about names being written up in heaven, they turn up 
their noses and say, " Don't talk about that stuff to me, 
about names being written in heaven, as if they kept 
books there. " When a man cavils, I always go right to 
the word of God, and take my stand right on Scripture. 
There is considerable in Scripture about names being 
written in the book of life. I was amazed when I 
came to hunt it up to find a passage in the prophecy of 
Daniel about the book. If you will turn to the twelfth 
chapter of the prophecy of Daniel and the first verse, 
you will find, "And at that time shall Michael stand 
up, the great prince which standeth for the children of 
thy people, and there shall be a time of trouble, such as 
never was since there was a nation even to that same 
time; and at that time thy people shall be delivered, 
every one that shall be found written in the book." 

Then I find Paul writing down to those Philippians, at 
Philippi, that town where they had given him such 
cruel treatment, "And I entreat thee also, true yoke 
fellow, help those women which labored with me in the 
gospel, with Clement also, and with other, my fellow- 
laborers, whose names are in the book of life." 

It is not only our privilege so to live that other people 
may know that our names are written in the book of 
life. 



HEAVEN. 349 

I had a friend coming back from Europe a few years 
ago, and as the party were coming down from London 
to Liverpool, they made up their minds to go to the 
Northwestern hotel. When they got there, they found 
the hotel had been full for days, and they could not 
accommodate them. My friend found all the company 
taking up their satchels and starting off, and they said to 
her, "Are you going with us over to this other hotel?" 
' * No, " she said, " I am going to remain here." "Why," 
they said, "there is not any room; the hotel is full." 
" O," she said, " I have got a room." " How did you 
get it?" "Why, I sent my name on ahead." That is 
just what Christians are doing. They are sending their 
names on ahead. They are giving a little thought to 
the other life. There is another life beyond this, and 
what Christians are doing is taking a little thought about 
the future, and not spending all their time and energy 
upon things of time. Everything that we seek, every- 
thing that we handle down here is transitory, but the 
things of the world to which we are going will endure 
forever. 

Now, I want to call attention to a few more passages 
about names being written in the book of life. Revela- 
tion, thirteenth chapter, eighth verse, ' ' And all that dwell 
upon the earth shall worship him," that is, anti-Christ, 
"whose names are not written in the book of life of 
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." That 
dividing line is going to be drawn by-and-by. Then it 
will appear who is for God, and who is against Him; and 
every man whose name is not written in the book of 
life will bow down to the anti-christ, the beast, and 
worship him. The quicker that time comes the better. 



35° Moody's sermons. 

I am tired of seeing people trying to be on both sides of 
this question. I believe we are suffering more to-day 
from people inside of the church, unconverted, than from 
any other class of people; people who profess to be dis- 
ciples of Jesus Christ, and yet are living in the world, 
like the world, and for the world, and who care for noth- 
ing else. 

There is another passage I want to call your attention 
to, Revelation, twentieth chapter, twelfth verse, "And 1 
saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and 
the books were opened, which is the book of life; and 
the dead were judged out of those things which were 
written in the books, according to their works. " That is 
a judgment of stewardship. One shall be made ruler 
over five cities, and another over ten; and I am afraid 
some will not have any; they will just barely get into the 
kingdom of God and get life; that is all you can say. 
They will get into heaven as Lot got out of Sodom, by 
the skin of his teeth. His works were all burned up. 
There are a good many Lots and Sodoms at the present 
time. You will not have to go out of this city to find 
them. Everything they have done, everything they do, 
is going to be lost. They are time-servers. They can- 
not look beyond this life. 

Then again, in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation, 
twenty-seventh verse, we read, " And there shall in no 
wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatso- 
ever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie." It is 
astonishing to hear people talk. Only yesterday I heard 
people say they were going to heaven without regenera- 
tion, without being born of the Spirit, without being 
converted. In other words, they might just as well say, 



HEAVEN. 351 

" I am going to heaven whether God will have me there 
or not." If a man does not give up his skepticism, his 
unbelief, his sin, he cannot enter that city. These are 
almost the last words in Scripture, the last chapter but 
one, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything 
that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, 
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's 
book of life." It is a very important question. It is a 
question we ought to have settled in our minds. "Is my 
name written in the book of life?" " O, well," you 
may say, " my name is on the church record." I think 
a good many people have their names on the church rec- 
ord that have not got them in the book of life. You 
may have your name on twenty church records and not 
have it in the Book of Life. The question is, have I 
been born of the Spirit? Have I been born again? Have 
I been born from above? Have I passed from death unto 
life? If I have not, it is clearly taught that I will not 
enter into the kingdom of God. " Except your right- 
eousness exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and 
Pharisees, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of 
God." That is what Christ said to the moralists of His 
day. " Except ye become converted, and become as a 
little child" (that is, really nothing in your own sight), 
"ye cannot see the kingdom of God." Heaven, some 
one has said, is filled with twice-born people; born of the 
flesh and born of the spirit. 

We are told in this blessed book what causes joy in 
heaven. What causes joy in heaven is one sinner repent- 
ing, one sinner being born into the kingdom of God. 
Only think, that a man or woman, or even a little child, 
that is here in this audience to-day may cause joy in 
heaven by repenting and turning to God. 



352 MOODY S SERMONS. 

The next thing we have got in heaven is the treas- 
ures. We will turn now to the sermon on the mount. 
You will find out what Christ says about treasures. 
4 ' Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where 
moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break 
through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in 
heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and 
where thieves do not break through nor steal; for 
where your treasure is there will your heart be also." 
If our treasures are earthly, we will be earthly minded; 
if our treasures are heavenly, we will be heavenly mind- 
ed. It does not take more than ten minutes to find out 
where a man's treasure is. Talk to a man who has his 
heart set on money, and tell him about some business 
that he can go into to make a few hundred dollars; see 
how quick his eye will light up. Talk to a politician; 
tell him how he can get a seat in the United States sen- 
ate; see his eye light up. It does not take long to tell 
where a man's heart is. His heart is where is treasure 
is. If his treasure is down here, you can soon tell. Talk 
to a lady of fashion, one of what they call the upper ten, 
that is, the world's idea of the upper ten. The upper 
ten, the best circle, is really up there around the throne. 
It is not down here on your avenues. The best people 
that ever trod this earth are in heaven; they are with 
the King. Take this so-called upper ten and talk to 
them about the latest fashion, the latest style of dressing 
the hair, the latest fashion of dress and clothes, and see 
their eye light up. They will talk about these things 
for hours; their hearts are there. But the fashion of 
this world passes away. If a man sets his heart upon 
anything on this earth, he is going to be disappointed. 



HEAVEN. 353 

The reason this country to-day is so full of disappointed 
people is because they have been building for time in- 
stead of for eternity. 

A bedridden saint, one of those saints that God is pol- 
ishing up for his temple, was lying upon her bed watch- 
ing the birds as they came in the spring to build their 
nests, and one bird came and built its nest so very low 
that every day she said, " O bird, build higher, build 
higher." But she could not make the bird understand, 
and it went on and built its nest very low. After the 
little birds were hatched, she watched the mother bird 
feed them. One morning she looked out and saw that 
the nest was torn to pieces. The cat had destroyed it 
and killed the old bird and the young ones. What you 
and I want to do is to build higher. 

Let us look at the first four verses of the third chap- 
ter of Paul's letter to the Colossians. " If ye then be 
risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, 
where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your 
affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For 
ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. 
When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye 
also appear with Him in glory." That is what Scrip- 
ture teaches. When our soldiers were in the army, they 
never thought of building palaces down there in the 
south. A tent was good enough for them. Now, you 
and I are pilgrims. We are travelers; we are only here 
a little while, and a tent is good enough for us. That is 
all Abraham had. The well-watered plains of Sodom 
had no temptation for him. He had something better. 
I pity those men who are building these very fine man- 



354 MOODY S SERMONS. 

sions and laying the foundation so deep and broad, as 
though they were to live forever. About the time they 
get ready to move in, they are called away. Some of 
them are called away before they get in. They have gone 
to another world. 

When I was out on the Pacific coast, the first Sunday 
I was there I went to Sunday-school. It was a very 
rainy day, and but few children were there. The super- 
intendent said to me that as so few were there bethought 
he would dismiss the school, and asked me if I didn't 
think it was a good idea. I told him I thought not; that 
we ought to make it interesting for those that did come. 
Then he said the teachers were not there. I told him 
to put them all in one class. He asked me if I would 
teach it. I asked him what the lesson was, and found it 
was this passage, "Lay up treasures for yourselves in 
heaven." I thought anybody could talk upon that, espe- 
cially in California. There was a blackboard there, and 
I had written upon it, first, a list of earthly treasures as 
they were named by the school. I asked what the peo- 
ple of California thought most of. They said "Gold," 
so we put down gold. "Anything else?" "Land." 
"Put down land." "What else?" " Houses." "What 
else?" "Pleasure." "Put down pleasure." "What 
else?" "Honor." "Yes, that is correct. Put down 
honor. Any others?" Some one said, " Business," and 
that was put down. " Anything else?" One little fel- 
low said, "Rum." I said, " Put that down." You laugh 
at it, but there are many men that will sell heaven with 
all its glory for a rumbottle. They worship a rumbot- 
tle. You will not have to go out of this city to find men 
who bow down to a rumbottle. Then they went on 



HEAVEN. 355 

naming other things, fast horses. That is a treasure. 
Some men think more of fast horses than they do of the 
kingdom of God. 

" Now," I said, "let us look at the heavenly treasures 
and put them opposite. What is the very sweetest thing 
there is in heaven?" One little boy, with his eyes dan- 
cing in their sockets, said, "Jesus." "That is right," I 
said; " we will put Him at the head of the list." " What 
is the next?" "Angels." I said, "Put that down. 
What next?" "The river of life, the crown, the crown 
of righteousness, the crown of glory, mansions," and so 
on, naming the many treasures. There was one teacher 
in that Sunday-school that was there who was an uncon- 
verted young man. He said he had come to California 
to make a fortune, and he said after we had all those 
treasures written down on the blackboard, " How blind 
I have been! I have been seeking for earthly treasures, 
and neglecting those heavenly treasures." And he was 
converted that very hour. 

Some time ago when I was going to New Orleans, two 
ladies got on the same train I did at Chicago, and took 
seats behind me. One of the ladies lived at Cairo, and 
the other at New Orleans; and the Cairo lady became 
very much attached to the New Orleans lady, and when 
we arrived at Cairo she said, "I wish you would stop 
over at Cairo and spend a few days with me." "Well,' 
the other lady replied, " I would like to, I would enjoy 
your society very much, but my trunks have all gone on 
the train ahead of me, and I haven't got clothes I would 
like to appear in society in. These clothes are good 
enough to travel in, you know." Ah, I took a hint. 
These clothes are good enough to travel in any how. I 



356 Moody's sermons. 

am on my way to heaven, and took in this city on my 
route. We only stay here for a night, and pass on. We 
are traveling to the New Jerusalem. On a tombstone 
there was a beautiful thought. "The inn of a traveler 
to the New Jerusalem." We are travelers to the New 
Jerusalem, and if we don't find everything down here 
just as we want it, we shall be satisfied then. We can 
afford to wait. We need not borrow trouble about life 
here. We want to lay up treasures in heaven. 

People make a mistake when they think the church is 
a place of rest. We are going to rest by-and-by. We 
don't want to be talking about rest down here. 

I want to call your attention next to the fact that our 
reward is in heaven, and not here. God's people make 
the great mistake of looking for a reward down here. 
They are still looking for a reward down here. Let us 
remember that the reward is beyond. I have noticed 
that that is the case with almost every one of God's peo- 
ple; they look for reward down here. God does not pro- 
pose to reward his children here. He is to reward them 
up yonder. We are to work here. When we are done 
He will say, "Well done, good and faithful servant, 
enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." You will then 
have a seat at His right hand. The reward will be great, 
He says. If God calls the reward great, what kind of a 
reward will it be? If the great God says so, won't it be a 
wonderful reward? Instead of looking for reward and 
honor here, let us look beyond for it. See what Paul says 
to Timothy, " For there will be for me a crown." He 
did not look for his crown here. 

When I read the life of Paul, it makes me ashamed of 
the Christianity of the present day. Talk about what 



HEAVEN. 357 

we have suffered! Talk about what we have done! I 
think it would do every member of the church good to 
spend six months reading the life of Paul, and to see 
what he had to go through. He had been beaten four 
times, and received thirty-nine stripes upon the bare 
back. If one of us should get even one stripe now, how 
many volumes would be written on the martyrdom? 
What a whine there would be! It was nothing for Paul 
to be beaten with thirty-nine stripes. Did any one say 
to Paul, " You have been beaten already four times be- 
fore, and now they are going to bring that scourge upon 
your back as many times again, perhaps; had you not 
better go off down to Europe, and rest for six months 
until this persecution dies out?" The appeal would pass 
him by unheeded. "I have but one aim, one thing to 
hope for. I press toward the mark of my high calling in 
Christ Jesus." These earthly afflictions, what were they? 
He never complained of them. Instead of giving up his 
opinions and his hope, he was willing to stand his stripes 
and his miseries, again and again. And it was no trifling 
matter, these beatings he received. Yet he received 
them all, and would not deny the faith that the mercy 
and power of God had wrought in him. If you allow me 
the expression, the devil had his match when he got 
hold of Paul. Not all he could do would give him the 
upper hand of Paul, and separate him from the love of 
God. He had his reward in view; and he always, scorn- 
ing what the world could do to him, pressed toward that 
reward. He knew that all his sufferings here would be 
wiped away, and joy and peace be his when he wore the 
crown for which he had so bravely fought. And how 
many are working for these crowns at the present day? 



358 Moody's sermons. 

How much would they suffer now for a like reward that 
awaited this mighty warrior? His enemies one time took 
him out and stoned him like the martyr Stephen. Think 
of the torment he experienced, the pain that he must 
have suffered, as these stones were hurled at him. So 
great was the anger of those who were thus around him, 
that they left him for dead when they got through with 
him. See his head all swollen up; see the bruises upon 
his body and his limbs; see the ugly scars and the gaping 
wounds that he carried. He was hardly brought to life 
again; and for a long time thereafter you could see him 
with his injured head and black eye on the corners of 
the streets, and yet not frightened by any means, but 
preaching the glorious gospel of his God and Master 
Jesus Christ. He went to Corinth, was not afraid, but 
preached there for eighteen months; and in all his minis- 
trations, and in all this, he had to rely upon himself. 
He had no influential committee to meet him on his ar- 
rival at the station, and conduct him to a fine hotel, and 
make all the arrangements about his expenses. There 
was no station in those days; when he did arrive, he came 
unannounced and on foot. And instead of a splendid 
hotel to go to, his first care was to go himself, walk 
around all the streets and find cheap lodgings, in some 
alley, where he could go after he had left off preaching 
for the day to make tents, to which trade he had been 
brought up. And then, after all his preaching, and all 
his labors, what reward did he receive? Well, there was 
a sort of a committee, and they said they would pay him 
off. Did they give him some testimonial and a large 
sum in money then? What they did do instead of pre- 
senting him with, say a thousand dollars in gold, this 



HEAVEN. 359 

committee that I speak of took him down to a cross street 
and gave him thirty-nine stripes. That is the way they 
paid him off. That was the way they treated this 
mighty fighter, a preacher that turned the world upside 
down. 

Talk about Alexander making the world tremble at the 
tread of his armies! Talk about Napoleon shaking the 
world to its center, when the powers knew he had 
gathered his army round about him! Why, these have 
all passed away; but the words of Paul, of the despised 
tent-maker, make the world tremble even to this day. 
He talks about being in peril among robbers. Well, 
what did the robbers find on him? No money, no jewelry, 
nothing. What treasures he had, he had placed them 
above their reach, he had put them in heaven, where 
thieves do not break through or steal. The robbers got 
nothing from him, though he was richer than any man at 
the present day. Not a man who has lived since Paul is 
richer than he was. Three times, again he says, he 
suffered shipwreck; also a day and a night he was in the 
deep. He had been subjected to perils by water, to 
perils of robbers, to perils brought about by his own 
countrymen. Besides these, he experienced perils of the 
wilderness; perils among false brethren — ah! that must 
have been the hardest. He was weary, he was in pain; 
but none of these things moved him. Thank God, the 
apostle was a warrior; and would to God the church had 
a thousand like him at the present day. Nothing was 
able to battle him down. Not even the newspaper of 
the day, if they had one, pitching into him every day, 
would have caused him a moment's thought. It might 
have called him a poor, deluded man, might have said 



360 Moody's sermons. 

to him, " you poor fool." For none of these things 
did he care. He looked above and beyond them. He 
knew there was a glorious reward awaiting him. 

And so the mighty warrior went on to fight for his 
Master. But at last he had to flee; and to escape, he 
was let down the walls in a basket. He goes to fight 
elsewhere. Driven out of one place, he does not de- 
spair; and that is the spirit we want to-day. He was 
always willing to receive the stripes and the torments, 
and to suffer everything the world could heap upon him 
for the cause of Christ. His enemies again gave him 
thirty-nine stripes. Well, he was used to it. His back 
had not perhaps got well before he received this punish- 
ment. After they had got through with him, they cast 
him and Silas into prison. No sooner had they got in, 
instead of being frightened at what they had received, they 
began to worship the God for whom they had suffered. 
Paul says to Silas, "Come, Silas, let us praise God and 
have prayers." And they opened their worship by sing- 
ing, perhaps, the forty-sixth psalm. After that they had 
prayers, and called upon God for his protection. And 
as soon as they had said "Amen," their God responded 
to their cries of help, and the whole prison shook, and 
there was a great commotion. Yes, that was a queer 
place to sing praises in, a prison; and it was just after he 
had received the stripes. Why, I dare say if Mr. Sankey 
should have only one stripe upon his naked back, he 
would not feel much like singing! But this man had re- 
ceived thirty-nine. He was as much at home with his 
God in prison, as he was out of it. He could praise him 
as well behind bolts and bars as he could in the syna- 
gogue. He knew what his reward would be. He knew 



HEAVEN. 361 

the grave would be his immediate reward; but he had 
faith in the great hereafter; he had a crown and a reward 
that would not pass away. Yes, do you think that God 
would let him suffer like that without rewarding him? If 
we suffer persecution for Christ's sake, great will be our 
reward. Paul's sufferings were the cause of the conver- 
sion of the Philippian jailer. I suppose he was the first 
convert in Europe. 

Look at him again in Rome. The time had come for 
his departure; Nero had signed the order for his execu- 
tion; and he is being taken out to be beheaded. Ask 
him now, at this moment, when death is but little way 
off, if he is sorry that he has suffered for the Son of God. 
Ask him if he would like to recant to save his head. I 
can imagine how he would look if you should ask him 
such a question as that. They are going to take him 
two miles out of the city to the place of execution. He 
walks with a steady, unfaltering step. He wavers not, 
nor looks aside. His gaze is fixed upon the reward of 
his high calling in Christ Jesus. And he writes to his 
friend Timothy, " Henceforth there is laid up for me a 
crown." You could not shake him in his faith. Thank 
God, at this dread moment, he kept his word with Jesus. 
He had never preached any false doctrine. He had only 
preached Christ crucified, and had manfully fought under 
his banner like a faithful soldier, to this, the end of his 
life. " Good-by,"youcan imagine him saying to Timothy; 
" henceforth there is laid up for me a crown, and I am 
going to win it." Ashe walked through the streets of 
Rome, I tell you Rome never had such a conqueror. 
Not all her mighty men of war, nor all her generals and 
statesmen and orators, had risen to the supreme height 



362 Moody's sermons. 

that Paul had reached at this moment. He was going 
to receive a prize that would eclipse all the trophies of 
of war, and wit, and learning. But at last he approaches 
the fatal spot. He is placed in the position that he had 
to take; the executioner makes him ready, and at the 
given signal the blow descends, his head comes off, and 
his spirit is lifted into the golden chariot, and is borne to 
the pearly gates of heaven. As he approaches the celes- 
tial portals, the battlements of heaven are crowded with 
the saints that Paul by his preaching had sent before him. 
Ah, how they welcome him! He is borne on, toward 
the great white throne to receive his reward. The bells 
of heaven are set a-ringing, and hosannas are chanted 
by the choir of paradise. He comes near the throne, 
and he hears the great voice saying, " Well done; good 
and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord," 
and the saints now gather around him, and greet, and 
bear witness for him to the Master he had so faithfully 
served. One would say, " That sermon that you preached 
to the Galatians wrought a change of heart in me, and I 
have been chosen to take my place among the elect." 
Another would say, ' ' That lecture that you delivered at 
Thessalonica converted me." Another, "Paul, that ap- 
peal that you made at Corinth touched my wicked soul; 
I began to worship the Jesus whom you preached, and 
here I am among the angels." O, what a reward was 
that! Was it not worth all the cares, troubles, anxieties, 
sufferings, torments, and death he had gone through? 
Men murmur at the little crosses they have to endure 
here; but they forget that if they be faithful the Lord will 
reward them by-and-by. 




Jesus Healing the Sick. 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 



I have for my subject this afternoon a question, a com- 
mand and an invitation. In the first chapter of John and 
the thirty-eighth verse, it is related that Christ turned to 
two of John the Baptist's disciples, about four o'clock in 
the afternoon, who were following Him, and said to them, 
4 'What seek ye ?" The first words that fell from the lips 
of the Son of God, as He commenced His ministry — that 
is John's account of it — were, " What seek ye ?" 

There were all classes of people following Christ while 
He was upon earth. There were some that went to see 
Him just out of a morbid curiosity; they had no other 
motive. There were some who went for the fishes and 
the loaves. There was another class that followed Him 
that they might get mere temporal relief ; that they might 
get some friend healed. Then there was another class 
followed Him that they might entangle Him in some con- 
versation; they were constantly putting difficult ques- 
tions to Him in hopes that they might get Him to say 
something against the law of Moses that they might con- 
demn Him and put Him to death. There were some 
that went just to see, and others that went to be seen. 
Here and there were some that followed Him for just 

365 



366 Moody's sermons. 

what He was to them, and they always got a blest ing. 

Now, I contend that all the men and women in this city 
are seeking something. The question that I want to 
press home on you to-day is, ''What seek ye ?" What 
brought you out here this afternoon ? I venture to sav 
if this audience could be sifted to find out who had come 
to get a blessing, it would be found to be a very smal* 
number ; there would be vacant chairs enough ; then? 
would be no trouble about room for the people that want' 
ed to come. 

Although eighteen hundred years have rolled a^aj 
since Christ put that question to those disciples, huma< 
nature has not changed. You will find the same cijssej 
now; there are some that have come just out of curiosity, 
just merely to see and to be seen. Some have come 
because they have been persuaded by a godly mother to 
come. They do not come because they wanted tc, but 
because a mother, or a wife, or a little child had per- 
suaded them, and they have come just to please them. 

One man in Philadelphia got up at the young converts' 
meeting and said he did not come to hear the preaching 
or the singing. He said that a friend of his got there one 
night at the opening of the depot building, and he said 
he thought it was a remarkable scene to see eleven 
thousand chairs all vacant. He said he would like to 
see eleven thousand chairs in one building. So he went 
up late in the afternoon or early in the evening. He 
was the first one there, and the moment the doors were 
open he rushed in to see the empty chairs. That was 
what brought him there. Pretty high motive, wasn't 
it ? He was a drinking man. The text that night was, 
" Where art thou ?" and he saw something else before 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 367 

the meeting was over. He saw himself a poor, blind, 
miserable, wretched sinner. I hope some one that has 
come here to-day out of curiosity will get his eyes 
opened, and if you do, you may get something you did 
not come for, something worth more than all this world 
to you. 

When we were in London, a man was going by Agri- 
cultural Hall, and it was raining pretty hard, and he 
dropped in just to get out of the rain, and the word 
reached him where he stood, and he was convicted and 
converted. 

It is astonishing what motives bring a class of people 
together. You know and God knows what brought you 
here. What is the motive ? Have you come merely to 
gratify curiosity ? Have you come to gratify some 
friends ? ' ' What seek ye ?" 

I can imagine some of you say, ' ' I did not come here 
to hear you preach. I came to hear the singing. I am 
very fond of music, and I would like to hear the singing, 
and I just wish that I was out of here ; I don't like 
sermons; I just hate them." Well, I am glad you 
came for that motive, and I am thankful there is gospel 
enough in some of these hymns to save you. So if you 
did not come for any higher motive than to see or be 
seen, or hear the singing, we are glad to see you. But 
if you just change the motive and say, " I want a bless- 
ing; I want God to bless me; I want Him above 
everything else," this will be the happiest day you ever 
spent on earth. 

Now let us take the question home. What brought 
us here? "What seek ye?" Have you come to get 
Jesus Christ ? If you have, you can find Him. You 



368 Moody's sermons. 

have not got to go up to bring Him down. You have 
not got to go down to bring Him up. He is right 
here. 

I want to tell you another thing. It is a command for 
you to seek Him, and I want to lay that command 
right across every man's path here to-day. "Seek first 
the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all things 
else shall- be added." what man puts first, God puts 
last ; or, reversed, what God puts first, man puts last. 

If I should ask a good many of you to-day why you 
do not seek the kingdom of God, you would make me 
this answer, "Well, I have a good many other things 
to attend to. My business has got to be looked after; 
times are hard; times have been hard for the last five 
years; and don't you know, Mr. Moody, a man is worse 
than an infidel if he don't provide for his family ?" So 
he is; no doubt about that, bat then here is a com- 
mand. God never makes any mistakes. He does not 
command us to do something that He does not give us 
power to do. If He commands all men now everywhere 
to repent, He means it. If he commands me to seek 
first the kingdom of God, I am to seek it first; I am to 
do that above everything else. 

I am one of those that firmly believe that a man is 
just as good a business man in whom the kingdom of 
God is set up, as a man that goes on serving the world, 
living for the world. I believe a man is not fit to live — 
is not qualified for business — until he has obeyed God. 
I believe God turns the ways of the wicked upside down, 
and hedges up their way. Some one will say, " I have 
seen some of the wickedest men in this country get very 
rich." So have I. But then a man may get very rich, 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 369 

and not be very prosperous after all. All is not gold 
that glitters. A man may have great wealth and not 
have contentment. A man may have great wealth and 
not have peace of mind. A may may have great wealth 
and be a stranger to rest. If I wanted to find a skeleton, 
I would go up here on your fine avenues, into some of 
those fine palaces there. You have not got to go down 
into your brothels and dark dens of iniquity, and your 
wretched homes, made dark by sin. You will find them 
there, I admit; but you will find them also in the homes 
of the fashionable, and in the palaces of the wealthy. 
There is hardly a family in the city that has not a skele- 
ton in it. I believe that the reason that there is so much 
darkness and misery in this world is because men and 
women go contrary to what God tells them. About the 
last thing a man thinks of seeking is the kingdom of God. 
If you talk with a great many, they will say they must 
attend to their business. They will tell you that when 
they get settled in life and have time, then they will at- 
tend to their soul's interests. 

Now, when we start out in life, it is better that we 
start right. When God tells me to run, I am to run. 
When He tells me to walk, I am to walk. If He tells 
me to believe, I am to believe. If He tells me to seek 
first the kingdom of God, I must do it. No man or woman 
is justified in going out of this hall to-day without seeking 
the kingdom of God. If you go out of this hall without 
doing it, you trample one of God's commands under your 
feet. Some people think they never break a command- 
ment. We have something besides the decalogue. This 
commandment is just as binding as the commandment, 
44 Thou shalt not steal." It is a command from God, 



370 M00DYS SERMONS. 

" Seek ye first the kingdom of God." Man says, " I will 
not do it. I will seek for pleasure. I will seek for 
wealth. I will seek for honor. I will seek for fame. I 
will seek for everything else before I will seek the king- 
dom of God." Is not that true? Don't we see that all 
around us? They are just living in disobedience. You 
know if you have a child that disobeys you, you will not 
want that child to prosper. You do not want your child 
to prosper in disobedience. But when a child is obedient, 
then you love to see the child prosper. Now, as long as 
we live in disobedience to God, how can we expect to 
prosper? I do not believe we would have had these hard 
times if it had not been for sin and iniquity. Look at 
the money that is drank up! The money that is spent 
for tobacco ! That is ruining men — ruining their con- 
stitutions. We live in a land flowing with milk and 
honey. God has blessed this nation; yet men complain 
of hard times. I tell you there is nothing so extravagant 
as sin. If a man would seek the kingdom of God first, you 
would not be troubled much about the things of this 
world. You would not be troubled about your clothing 
and about what you would eat. That is about all we 
need. You may have the wealth of this world, but you can't 
take a penny away with you. You hear it said that a man 
died worth millions. The fact is, when he dies he is not 
worth anything. The wealth that a man may have then 
is not of this world. Lay up treasures in heaven, not 
down here. You may have millions here and enter eter- 
nity a beggar if you have not become rich toward God. 

I remember, a number of years ago, I was working 
out in the field. It was before I left home, and I was a 
little wild in those days. A man told me something I 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 37 1 

did not understand; it was a mystery. We were hoeing 
corn, and I noticed he was weeping. Says I, " What is 
the trouble ?" and he went on and told me. It sounded 
strange then. I did not understand it. He said when 
he left home to make his fortune it was a beautiful morn- 
ing when he left his mother's door, and she gave him 
this text of Scripture, " Seek first the kingdom of God 
and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added 
unto you." He said he paid no attention to it. He said 
there were no railroads in those days, and he had to 
walk. He walked from town to town, and the first 
Sunday he was away he went into a little country church, 
and the minister got up and preached from the text, 
" Seek first the kingdom of God." He said to himself, 
"That is my mother's text. I wonder if that man knows 
me." He thought he was preaching it for him. But he 
said to himself that he was not going to seek the king- 
dom of God yet; that he was going to get rich, and when 
he got rich and was settled down in life he was going to 
attend to his soul's interest, just exactly what God told 
him not to do. He said the sermon made a deep im- 
pression upon him, but that he had made up his mind 
that he would not seek God then. He could not get any 
work in that town, and he went to another, and another, 
and at last he got some work, and he went to church in 
the town, and he hadn't been going there a great while 
before he heard a sermon from the text, " Seek first the 
kingdom of God and His righteousness. " He thought God 
was calling him, and the sermon and the text made a 
deep impression on his mind, but he calmly and deliber- 
ately said, "I will not seek the kingdom" of God now; 
I will wait until I get rich. " He said, he finally got through 



372 Moody's sermons. 

working in that town, and he went to „ another, and at 
last he got work in another town. He said he went to 
church, he went because his mother had taught him; he 
said he didn't feel easy whe i he stayed away; he said he 
did not go to get any blessing; just went because he was 
educated to go. What was his surprise, he said, when 
the minister got up in the pulpit and preached from the 
text, " Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness, and all these things shall be added unto you." He 
said he thought surely God was calling him; and he said 
the spirit strove mightily with him; but he just fought it, 
made up his mind that he would not become a Chris- 
tian until he had become settled in life; and he said that 
all the sermons he heard since made no more of an im- 
pression on him than on that stone, and he struck it with 
a hoe. It seemed to him as if the spirit of God had left 
him. But I could not talk to him. I was a stranger to 
Christ. But soon after I went off to Boston. When I 
was converted, almost the first man that came into my 
mind was that neighbor, and I made up my mind when 
I went home I would talk with him and tell him about 
the Savior. When I got home I made inquiries, and my 
mother said, ''Why, didn't I write you about him?'' 
"Write me what ?" "Why, he has gone to the insane 
asylum, and if any of the neighbors go up to see him, he 
will point his finger at him and say, "Young man, seek 
first the kingdom of God and His righteousness." Reason 
had reeled and tottered from its throne, but the text was 
still there. God had sent that arrow down into his soul. 
Long years had rolled away and he could not draw it out 
of his soul. The next time I went home, they told me 
he was up on his farm, that he was idiotic. I went up 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 373 

to his house, and found him in the rocking-chair; he was 
rocking backwards and forwards, and as I spoke to him 
he gave me that idiotic look, that vacant look; and I 
called him by name, and said, " Don't you know me ?" 
He pointed his finger at me and said, "Young man, 
seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness. " 
He did not know me; mind all gone, but the text still 
there. A little while after he died. He lies slumbering 
in the cemetery where my father is buried, and when I 
go to visit that cemetery, as I go by that grave, it seems 
as if I could hear that text coming up from that grave, 
"Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, 
and all these things shall be added unto you. " My friends, 
you and I cannot afford to disobey God. We cannot 
afford to calmly and coolly and deliberately say, " I will 
not obey." Look around us. Men are snatched away 
suddenly, and they just pass into eternity. Look at that 
accident only a few hours ago on the Michigan Central, 
that night train passing on with great rapidity, and in 
a moment they passed into eternity. 

My friend, if you sleep to-night without seeking the 
kingdom of God, you are disobeying God. It is a com- 
mand from God Almighty to every soul here. We have 
no right to defer it; no right to say that we will seek the 
kingdom of God to-morrow. To-morrow does not be- 
long to us. To-day, now, is the day of salvation. 

You will find in the fifty-fifth chapter of Isaiah; "Seek 
ye the Lord while He may be found. Call ye upon Him 
while He is near." It is not to seek feeling. It is not 
to seek a sentiment, nor some dogma, nor some creed, 
but it is to seek the Lord Himself. " Seek ye the Lord 
while He may be found. Call ye upon Him while He is 



374 Moody's sermons. 

near. That is the exhortation. God exhorts you to 
seek Him while He may be found. 

Some one may ask, ' ' How seek Him ?" Seek Him 
with your heart, not with your head. The trouble with 
a great many is, they seek Him with their head, and 
they never find Him. It is not a new head, but a new 
heart we want. What do you mean by seeking God with 
your heart? I will tell you. When a man goes into a 
thing with his heart, you can soon tell it. He will be in 
earnest. Go into the gold regions, and you will find that 
the miners down in the mines have their hearts there. 
They are terribly in earnest. Go learn a lesson of the 
world. See how men seek for wealth! Look at these 
politicians over the state of Ohio. They can hardly wait 
until the Sabbath rolls away to begin their work to-mor- 
row. We want men to seek their soul's salvation as they 
seek for wealth. There is one thing that the Lord hates, 
and that is half-heartedness. No man ever found God 
with half a heart. 

I said to a man some time ago, ' ' I will tell you when 
you will be converted. I can tell you the day and the 
hour." "Well, I would like to have you. I didn't know 
that you were a prophet." "Well," says I, "I am not 
a prophet, but I can tell you when you will be converted." 
"I would like to have you." " Well," says I, "when 
you search for God with all your heart, you will find him 
and not before." O my friends, if God is worth having, 
He is worth seeking for with all your hearts, and when 
men seek Him with all their hearts they find Him. 

I am tired of hearing people talk about not having any 
objection to being saved. I said to a man some time ago, 
"Are you a Christian?" " No." "Well, wouldn't you 



WHAT SEEK YE ? 375 

like to be ?" "Well," said he, " I have no objection." 
''Well," said I, "you will never find Him with that 
spirit. God never adopts men with that spirit." I tell 
you that if we are going to get into the kingdom of God, 
we have got to be in earnest. 

I read an account some time ago of a vessel being wrecked 
at sea, and there were not enough lifeboats for all on 
board of the vessel; and some were swimming around in 
the water trying to get into lifeboats, and one man, with 
a great effort, swam to a boat and reached out his right 
hand. They said they did not dare to take any more in. 
They begged him to let go, but he would not. You know 
how a drowning man will grasp at a straw. A man took 
a sword and cut off the man's hand, and the man swam 
up the second time, and he laid hold of that boat with 
his left hand, and they cut off the left hand; and with 
both hands cut off he swam up to that boat again and 
seized it with his teeth. It touched their hearts. They 
could not cut his head off, and they drew him into the 
boat. He saved his life because he was in earnest. If 
it is the right hand, off with it. If it is the right eye, out 
with it. The kingdom of God is worth more than all the 
world. O, may God wake us up to-day, and show us 
the importance of seeking the kingdom of God with all 
our hearts. 

Now, I want to ask this audience this question: Do you 
believe that the Lord can be found here to-day? Do you 
believe that a sinner, a man that has been at enmity with 
God for twenty years, can come in here to-day and find 
the Lord precious to his soul? Do you believe that? Do 
you men believe that? Do you ministers believe it? If 
men will seek Him with all their hearts, they can find Him 



376 Moody's sermons. 

before they go out of this building. Do you believe that? 
Do you believe you can get eternal life and live with God 
forever by just seeking for it? You profess to believe it, 
but you do not believe it. If you did, you would seek for 
it. If Jehovah should send Gabriel down here to say to 
any one in this building, that you might have any one 
thing you might ask for, I venture to say there would be 
only one cry, a cry that would ring through the building, 
" Eternal life!" Everything else would fly into the dim 
past. You would not ask for money. If there was only 
one thing to ask for, you would ask for eternal life. It 
is a great thing to live forever. There is not anything 
to be compared with eternal life. Now, if eternal life can 
be found here to-day by asking for it, would you not ad- 
vise every man, woman and child in this house to seek 
the kingdom of God? O my friends, seek ye the Lord! 
He has been seeking for you these many years. Seek 
Him with your heart, and you will find Him. 




The Star in The East. Matthew, ii, 1-12. 



BLESSED HOPE. 



I have selected for my subject this afternoon the 
blessed hope. We are told to be ready to give a reason 
for the hope we have within us, and what we want to do 
is to find out what our hope is. I believe there are a 
-great many people that are hoping and hoping, when 
they have no ground for hope. I don't know of any 
better way to find out whether we have a true ground for 
the hope we have within us than to look in Scripture to 
see what the Scripture has to say. 

Now, faith is one thing, and hope is another. When 
hope takes the place of faith, it is a snare. Faith is to 
work and to trust. Some one has said that life is to en- 
joy and obey and be like God; but hope is to wait and 
trust; to wait and expect; in other words, that hope is 
the daughter of faith. I heard a very godly man once 
say that joy was like the larks, that sang in the morn- 
ing when it was light, but hope was like the nightingale, 
that sang in the dark; so that hope was really better than 

joy- 
Most anyone can sing in the morning when everything 

is bright, and everything going well; but hope sings in 

the dark, in the mist and the fog, looks through all the 

mist and darkness into the clear day. Faith lavs hold 

of what is in the Scripture, faith is laying hold of that 

which is within the veil, and what is in heaven for us. 

379 



380 Moody's sermons. 

Now, we cannot get on any better without hope than 
we can without faith. The farmer who sows his seed, 
sows it in the hope of a harvest; the merchant buys his 
goods in the hope to find customers, and the student toils 
in the hope that he will reap by-and-by. 

Now, I want to call your attention to the three classes 
of people that are gathered here to-day. They are those 
that have no hope, those that have a false hope, and those 
that have a good hope. I do not know that there is any 
one here to-day that would come under the first head. 
It is pretty hard to find any one in this world that has 
not some hope. Once in a while you will come across a 
person that has no hope in this life or the life to come. 
It is from that class that our suicides come. When 
men or women get to that point that they have no 
hope in this life, they become utterly discouraged, cast 
down, no hope in the life to come, believe when they die 
that is the last of them, atheists in their views, believe 
there is no hereafter, they put an end to their existence. 

The point I want to call your attention to in the class 
that has no earthly hope, is this, " A child is sick; a doc- 
tor is called, and he looks at the child and says there is 
no hope; but the moment the mother loses hope of the 
child living in this world another hope comes up; she 
hopes to see the child again in another world. Hope 
comes and cheers that mother in trouble. 

When Mr. Curtin was governor of Pennsylvania, a 
young man in that state was convicted of murder and 
was sentenced to be hung. His friends tried in every 
way they could to get him released. The young man 
was holding on to a hope that he would be released; they 
could not make him believe that he had to die. At last 



BLESSED HOPE. 38 I 

the governor sent for George H. Stuart, and said to 
him, "I wish you would go down to that jail and tell that 
young man there is no hope; tell him that there is not 
one ray of hope; that on the day appointed he must die; 
that I am not going to pardon him." Mr. Stuart said 
when he went into the jailthe young man's countenance 
lit up, and he says, "Ah, I am sure you brought me good 
news. What does it say?" Mr. Stuart said he would 
never be the bearer of such a message again. He said 
that he lay down beside him on the iron bed, and said, 
" My friend, I am sorry to tell you there is not any hope. 
The governor says you must die at the appointed time. 
He will not pardon you. He sent me down here to take 
away this false hope you have got, and to tell you you 
have to die. " He said the young man fainted away, and 
it was some time before they could bring him to. The 
poor man's heart was broken. He had been holding on 
to a false hope. In that case, that young man was not 
without hope, because he could repent, for God does for- 
give murderers, and become a child of God; become a 
saved man. Hope comes right in there. Even these 
men that think that they have no hope, there is hope for 
them if they will only turn to the God of hope, and to 
the God of the Bible. 

That is only one class. Job speaks about days passing 
without hope; but then he does not mean that there was 
not any hope beyond this life, because Job says in an- 
other place, "I know my Redeemer liveth, and that I 
shall see Him." He was like Paul. He knew in whom 
he believed. He had a hope in the darkness and fog; 
when those waves of persecution came dashing up against 
him, and in the midst of the storm and conflict you 



382 Moody's sermons. 

could hear Job cry out, " I know my Redeemer liveth." 
He had a hope. So I say it is hard to find any one that 
comes under the first head. Most people have some sort 
of hope. 

Now I come to the second head, people that have a 
false hope. I contend that a man or woman that is 
resting in false hope is really worse off than one who has 
no hope in this world; because if a man wakes up to the 
fact that he has no hope, there is a chance of rousing 
him to seek a hope that is worth having. The moment 
you begin to talk with these men that have a false hope, 
they run right off into their fortress and say, " I am all 
right; I have got a hope." You can hardly find a man 
or woman in all this city to-day that has not a hope. 
But how many are resting in a false hope, a miserable, 
treacherous hope that is good for nothing? You can't 
find a drunkard that has not a hope. He hangs on to 
the rumbottle with one hand and hope with the other; 
but his hope is a miserable lie; it is a refuge of lies that 
he has hid behind. You can't find a harlot that walks 
the streets of this city but that has some hope. You 
can hardly find a thief but that has some hope. 

Now, what we want to do is to examine ourselves, and 
see whether we have a hope that will stand the test of 
the judgment. We want to know whether we have a 
true hope or a false hope. If it is a false hope, the quick- 
er we find it out the better. We don't want to be rest- 
ing in a false hope. That has caused nearly all the mis- 
chief we have had in this country during the past few 
years. All these defaulters have come from that class. 
They were trusting in a false hope. They said, " I will 
take a little from the bank or from my employer, I will 



BLESSED HOPE. 383 

just overdraw my account a few thousand dollars, but I 
will replace it." But they went on drawing out, and 
drawing out, and this false hope kept saying, ' ' I can make 
it all right in a few days." They were led on and on 
by false hope until at last they got beyond hope, and 
could not pay it back. They were ruined. They were 
not only ruined — it would be a good thing if they stopped 
there, but look at their wives and their children and their 
relatives, their parents and their loved ones that they 
have ruined. They didn't intend to become ruined men. 
They didn't intend to bring a blight upon their families 
and upon their prospects here. A false hope led them 
on step by step. 

Now, my friends, let us be honest with ourselves to- 
day, and ask ourselves honestly before God and man, 
1 ' What is my hope?" Well, there is a lady up there in 
the gallery says, "I joined the Methodist church ten 
years ago." Very well, suppose you did, what is your 
hope to-day? " Well, my hope is all right; I joined the 
church." But that is not going to stand the light of 
eternity. It don't say that you have got to join some 
church. A man or woman may belong to a church and 
have not the spirit of Jesus Christ. 

Yes, and another one says over there, " I have a bet- 
ter hope than that; I belong to the Congregational 
church, and go out to all the meetings." A person may 
go to all the meetings and not have a true hope. Do 
you know that? If you allow the meetings to take the 
place of Jesus Christ, and let the church come in the de- 
nomination that you belong to, and take the place of 
Jesus Christ, you are resting on a rotten foundation, and 
you are building your house on a sandy foundation, and 



384 Moody's sermons. 

when the storms come, the house will fall. There is 
nothing but Jesus Christ that will do. But these false 
hopes will be swept away by-and-by. God's hail will 
sweep away the refuges of lies. It says in the eleventh 
chapter of Proverbs and seventh verse, "The hope of 
the unrighteous man perisheth." Now, if I belong to 
the church and am unrighteous, I may have a hope, but 
that is going to perish, and it may be I will not find it 
out until it is too late to get a good hope. It is a good 
deal better to find it out here to-day, when I have a 
chance to repent of my sin, and turn to God and get a 
true hope, than it is to go on with my eyes closed in the 
delusion that I am coming out all right. 

There is another passage here, in Job, twenty-seventh 
chapter and eighth verse, " For what is the hope of the 
hypocrite, though he hath gained, when God taketh away 
his soul?" What is his hope good for? The hope of the 
hypocrite is not good for anything. A man may gain by 
his hypocrisy; a man may put on the garb of religion, 
and profess to be what he is not, and may gain by it; 
there is no doubt of that; some do that, and they gain a 
little; but what shall it profit a man if he does gain by 
his hypocrisy, and God taketh away his soul? His hope 
is gone. It was a treacherous hope. It was good for 
nothing. 

11 But then," you may say, " I am not an unrighteous 
man; I don't come under that head at all, and I am no 
hypocrite." Well, I am afraid a good many of us that 
think we are not hypocrites are more or less hypocrites 
after all. The trouble is, men are trying to pass them- 
selves off for more than they are worth. They are trying 
to make people believe they are better than they really 



BLESSED HOPE. 385 

are. God wants honesty. God wants downright up- 
rightness, if you will allow me the expression. He wants 
us to be truthful and upright in all our transactions. If 
we are not, our profession don't help us. You may be- 
long to this church or to that church. You may say 
your prayers, and you may go through the form of re- 
ligion, but it will not help you. What is the hope of the 
hypocrite when God shall take away his soul? Suppose 
he has gained by his hypocrisy, there is not a thing, I 
believe, that God detests more than He does hypocrisy. 
He detests that sin more than He does all others. Jesus 
tore away the false hope of some of His disciples and 
told them, ' ' Except your righteousness exceed the right- 
eousness of the Scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in nowise 
enter into the kingdom of God." Ah, there will be many 
a man and many a woman, I am afraid, by-and-by, who 
will wake up and find their hope has been a false one, 
after all. 

Then there is another hope that is false. Men say, 
11 I think God is very merciful, and that it will come out 
all right in the end," God has declared with an oath 
that He will not clear the guilty. What folly it is for a 
man to stand up and say, "I know I swear now and 
then; but then God don't mean anything when He says 
I shan't swear. God is only winking at sin. It will 
come out all right. The blasphemer, the drunkard, the 
libertine, and the man who is vile and polluted in heart 
will be just the same at the end of the route. That is 
my hope." Well, it is a false hope. If there is a drunk- 
ard here to-day, let me tell you that your hope is per- 
fectly worthless, because God says that no drunkard 
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. That we find not 



386 Moody's sermons. 

only in the Old Testament, but in the New. And if there 
is a man here that sells liquor, that is party to the hellish 
act of putting the bottle in his neighbor's hand, there is 
not any hope for him. I don't care how much money 
you give to help build your churches. I don't care if you 
have the best pew in one of your large churches, and 
walk down the broad aisle every Sunda}/ with your wife 
and children, and take your seat there. " Woe be to 
the man that putteth the bottle to his neighbor's lips." 
God has pronounced a curse against that man. Things 
look altogether different when we stand before the judge 
of all the earth. 

Yes, but then there is another man. He says, " I can 
go on as I am, and by-and-by when I am sick, I can re- 
pent on my death-bed." I think that is a false hope. 
And let me say, I think there is any quantity of lying in 
the sick-room, a good many false hopes held out to the 
sick. Here is a person dying, and the doctor comes in, 
and he knows very well that the disease is fatal, and 
knows that person can't live ten days, and he says, ''I 
think you will be well and out in a few days, in the 
course of thirty days." He knows very well it is death. 
They say to these consumptives when they see that aw- 
ful look in the face; when they see his form is wasting, 
they say, "Well, I think you will be out again in the 
spring; when the flowers begin to blossom, and nature 
begins to unfold itself, you will be out again," when they 
know it is downright lying. O, the false hopes that are 
held out to sick and the dying! Then at the funeral 
people will stand up and pronounce a eulogy over a man 
that died in his sins when there is not a chance for his 



BLESSED HOPE. 387 

soul. God says, ''The soul that sinneth it shall die. 
He has not sought eternal life. He has spurned the 
gift of God and trampled the Bible under his feet. Look 
at the lying at funerals; false hopes that are held out. 
What God wants is to have us real, as He is real, and if 
our hope is not a hope that will stand the test of eter- 
nity, then the quicker we find it out the better. 

Then there is another false hope, which I think is 
worse, perhaps, than any other, and that is that a man 
can repent beyond the grave. There is a class of people 
who say, " I can go on in my sins and live as I am living, 
and I can repent beyond the grave." Now, if there is 
a chance for a man to repent beyond the grave, I can't 
find it between the lids of the Bible. I believe that if a 
man dies in his sin he is banished from God, and I be- 
lieve that when Jesus Christ said, "If ye die in your 
sins, where I am ye cannot come," he meant what he 
said. 

So, if our hope is false, let us find it out to-day. Let 
us be hqnest with ourselves, and ask God to show it to 
us. If our hope is not on the solid rock, if we are build- 
ing our house on the sand, let us find it out. You may 
say, " My hope is as good as yours. My house is as 
good-looking house as yours." That may be. It might 
be a better looking house than mine. But the import- 
ant thing is the foundation. What we want is to be sure 
that we have a good foundation. A man may build up 
a very good character, but he may not have it on a good 
foundation. If he is building a house on the sand, when 
storm and trials come, down will come all his hopes. A 
false hope is worse than no hope. If you have a false 
hope to-day, make up your mind that you will not rest 
until you reach a hope that is worth having. 



388 Moody's sermons. 

Now, here is a test that I think we can put to our- 
selves. If we have got the spirit of Jesus Christ, our 
life will be like His; that is, we will be humble, loving. 
We will not be jealous, will not be ambitious, self-seek- 
ing, covetous, revengeful, but we will be meek, tender- 
hearted, affectionate, loving, kind and Christ-like, and 
we will be all the time growing in those graces. Now, 
we can tell whether we have that spirit or not. " If any 
one have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of His." 
Now, that is a sign that we have a good hope, and if we 
haven't got the spirit of Christ, our hope is worthless. 

Now, I was speaking about that house on the founda- 
tion. If you will turn to Isaiah, twenty-eighth chapter 
and sixteenth verse, you will find that the foundation is 
already laid. "Therefore; thus saith the Lord God. 
Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried 
stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation; he 
that believeth shall not make haste." There it is tried; 
it is a precious corner stone; it is a sure foundation. It 
was tried when Christ was here. He is the chief corner 
stone. He was tried. The Scribes tried Him. The 
Sadducees tried Him. He was tried by the law. He 
kept the law. He was tried by, and He overcame death. 
He was tried by Satan. Satan came and presented 
temptation after temptation, and He said, "Get thee 
hence." He overcame Satan. He was tried by the 
grave, and He conquered the grave. This stone has been 
tested and tried. Now, if we build on that, we have a 
sure foundation. There is none other name under heaven 
given among men whereby we must be saved. ' ' There 
is no other foundation that man can lay than that is laid," 
and all that build on that foundation shall be saved. Let 



BLESSED HOPE. 389 

the storms come then and try that foundation. It has 
been tried. Your foundation, if you build on any other, 
has never been tested. It has not been tried. Your 
hope has not been tried. Our hope has, because our 
hope is in Jesus Christ, and it was put to the test, and 
we have got a hope that is sure and firm, if we are in 
Christ. Now, a false hope just flatters people. It is a 
great flatterer. It makes people think they are all right 
when they are all wrong. Some one has said that false 
hopes are like spider webs. The maid comes in with a 
broom and sweeps them all down. When a storm comes, 
the foundation of our false hopes is all gone. Suppose 
death should come and look you in the face this after- 
noon, and say to you, ' ' This is your last day, " and should 
begin to lay his cold, icy hand upon you, and you should 
begin to look around to see if you had got a foundation 
and a good hope. Would you be ready to meet God? 
That is the question. Now, what may happen any day 
let us be ready for every day. You know very well there 
is not one of us but that may be summoned this very day 
into the presence of God. Have you got a hope that will 
stand the dying hour? Have you got a hope that will 
stand the test? If you have not, you can give up your 
false hope to-day and get a good one, a hope that is 
worth having, that has been tried and tested. 

There were two millers that used to take care of a mill, 
and every night at midnight the miller used to get into 
his boat from his house, and go down the stream to the 
mill; used to get out about two or three hundred yards 
above the dam, and go to the mill. His brother miller 
would take the boat and row back to the house. One 
night this miller went down as usual at midnight and fell 



390 MOODY S SERMONS. 

asleep, and when he woke up found he was almost going 
over the dam, the water going over the dam having waked 
him. He realized in a moment his condition, that if he 
went over that dam it was sure death, and he seized the 
oars and tried to row back, but the current was too 
strong, and he could not pull against it, but he managed 
in the darkness to get his boat near the shore, and he 
caught hold of a little twig. He went to pull himself 
out of the boat, and the twig began to give way at the 
roots. He looked all around, and could find nothing else 
to get hold of; but he could just hold on to the twig and 
keep his boat from going over the dam- If he pulled a 
little harder and tried to pull himself up, the little twig 
would give way; and he just cried then for help. His 
hope was not a good one. He would perish if he let go, 
and perish if he held on. He just cried at the top of his 
voice for help, and help came. They came and threw a 
rope over the cleft of the rock, and he let go of the twig 
and laid hold of the rope, and was saved. 

I have come here to throw a rope over to you, and to 
give you a good hope. Now, we have a hope here that 
is worth having. Let that false hope of yours go; you 
will perish if you will hold on to it. Let it go and lay 
hold of a hope that is set before you. 

Now, you know that hope in Scripture never is used 
to express a doubt. When people say they hope they 
are Christians, it is not really proper. You cannot find 
any Christians in the Bible who say they hope they are 
Christians. It is something that has already taken place. 
We don't hope we are Christians. If a man asks me if 
I am a married man, I would not say I hope I am. That 
would cast a reflection on my marriage vows. If a man 



BLESSED HOPE. 39 1 

asks me if I am an American, I would not say I hope I 
am. I was born in this country. I am an American. I 
am not anything else. Now, if I have been born of God, 
born of the spirit, and I contend it is our privilege to 
know, I don't say, ''I hope I am a Christian." I know 
in Whom I have believed. I will tell you what hope is 
used for in Scripture. It used to express our hope of the 
resurrection, or the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, 
something to take place. It is a sure hope. About every 
time that hope is used in Scripture, it is used either to 
express our hope of the resurrection, or the coming back 
of our Lord and Master. That is the blessed hope in 
Titus. We are waiting for our Lord and Master from 
heaven. We have not a doubt. It is a sure hope. And 
yet a great many people seem to think that hope here in 
the Bible is used to express a doubt. " We hope 'that 
we are Christians." We ought to know that we are His. 
We ought to know that we have passed from death unto 
life. We ought to know in Whom we have believed, that 
we are looking forward to the time when these vile bodies 
shall be raised incorruptible; when that which has been 
sown in weakness shall be raised with power. We are 
living in the glorious hope that when our dead shall 
come back again, the loved ones that are laid away in 
the cemeteries shall come when the Lord of heaven shall 
descend with a shout. " When the trump of God is 
heard, the dead in Christ shall rise first; then we which 
are alive and remain shall be caught up, together with 
them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." 

So we stand with our loins girded and our lights burn- 
ing, waiting for the coming of the Master. 

Now, it says here in Proverbs, ' l The hope of the right- 



392 MOODY S SERMONS. 

eous shall be gladness." ''Happy is he that hath the 
God of Jacob for his hope, whose hope is in the Lord." 
It is not in some resolution that he has made; it is not in 
some act of his; it is not that he has joined some church; 
it is not that he reads his Bible, or that he says his 
prayers. His expectation is from God; his hope is in 
God. Never was a man disappointed who put his hope 
in God. God will fulfill His word. There is no such 
thing as a man being disappointed that puts his hope in 
God. But the trouble is, you know, we are putting our 
hopes in one another, and we are being disappointed. 
We are putting our hopes in ourselves, and our treach- 
erous hearts are disappointing us, and then we are cast 
down. But what we want is to put our hope in Him, 
not ourselves. A well-grounded hope is good for all 
time. It is good in poverty. It is good in sickness. It 
is good in the dying hour; and when we lay a body down 
in the grave, we have a hope in its coming back again. 
We lay down with sure hope, a glorious hope. O, how 
hope cheers us! You know it was Hopeful (in Bunyan's 
Pilgrim's Progress) that came along and cheered Chris- 
tian. That is what hope is for. We are looking for- 
ward to a blessed hope. 

Now, there is a passage in the sixth chapter of He- 
brews that I want to call your attention to, "That by 
two immutable things, in which it was impossible for 
God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who had 
fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us; 
which hope we have as an anchor to the soul, both sure 
and steadfast, and which entereth into that within the 
veil; whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, 
made an high priest forever after the order of Melchis- 



BLESSED HOPE. 393 

edec." What the anchor is to the ship, hope is to the 
soul; as long as the anchor holds, the ship is perfectly 
safe. 

Now, if I were to die this afternoon, and were to give 
a reason for the hope that is within me, I will tell you 
where I would find it; not in my feelings, not in my reso- 
lutions, not that I joined the church twenty odd years 
ago. I believe it is all right to unite with the church, 
and work for it. We ought to love the church; it is the 
dearest institution on earth. If I was going to die this 
afternoon, my faith would be right here, ' ' Verily, verily, 
I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth 
on Him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not 
come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto 
life." Now, if I did not get eternal life by believing on 
the Lord Jesus Christ when I came to Him, what did I 
get? If eternal life is not the gift of God, what is it? 
Then, if we have eternal life, we have something that 
cannot perish. It is a life that carries me beyond the 
grave; that reaches away over on to resurrection ground; 
that carries me on and on forever. The wages of sin is 
death, but the gift of God is eternal life. Eternal life is 
a gift, and I just took it. That is my hope. I don't 
want any other hope. If I had to die to-day, I could 
just pillow my dying head upon the truth of that verse, 
and rest it there. 

A man said to me the other day, " How do you feel?" 
I said, " It has been so long since I have thought of my- 
self, I don't know; I would have to stop to think it 
over." 

I thank God my salvation don't rest upon my feelings. 
I thank God my hope is not centered in my feelings. If 



394 MOODY S SERMONS. 

it was, it would be a very treacherous thing. I would be 
very hopeful one day and cast down the next day. I 
would not give much for a hope that is anchored in my 
feelings. I would not give much for a hope that is based 
upon my treacherous heart. But I tell you that a hope 
that is based upon Jesus Christ's word is a hope worth 
having. Now, he said it; let us believe it; let us lay 
hold of it by faith. ' ' Verily, verily, " which means 
"truly, truly," "he that heareth my word" — I have 
heard it. Satan can't make me believe that I have not. 
I have read it; I have handled it — " He that heareth my 
word and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting 
life." It don't say that you shall have it when you come 
to die, but hath it right here this afternoon, before you 
go out of this church. That is a hope worth having, isn't 
it? " Hath everlasting life, and shall not come into con- 
demnation," which means ' 'into judgment, " but ' 'is passed 
from death unto life." There is my hope. I have stood 
there for twenty odd years. I -have been assailed by 
doubts. I have been assailed by unbelief. I have been 
attacked by the enemy of all righteousness; but I tell 
you for twenty odd years I have been able to stand fair 
and square right on that rock. God said it. I believe 
it; God said it. I lay hold of it, and I just rest right 
there. What we want is to let our hope go down like 
an anchor into the word of God, and that gives us some- 
thing to rest upon. 

A great many people are waiting for some feeling. I 
will venture to say that more than half of this audience 
have come here to-day, and taken their seats in the hope 
that something will be said that shall impress them. You 
say, ' ' I hope that man will say something that will im- 



BLESSED HOPE. 395 

press me." You are waiting for some impression, some- 
thing to strike you. There is a man up in my native 
town, now fifty-eight years old, with whom I have talked 
I don't know how many times, and every time I talk to 
him he says, " Well, it hasn't struck me yet." " What 
do you mean?" " Well," he says, " it hasn't struck me 
yet." "Well," I said, "that is a queer expression. 
What do you mean?" He would come out to meetings, 
and wait through the meeting for something to strike 
him. "What do you mean?" "Well, I say' it hasn't 
struck me yet." You laugh at it, but that is yourself. 
You need not laugh at yourself. You will find the church 
is full of people who are waiting for something to strike 
them. What we want is to take God's word, and let the 
feelings take care of themselves. God said it. I will 
believe it, and I will rest my soul upon the word of God, 
not upon my feelings. Just take another word, " He 
came unto His own, and His own received Him not; but 
to as many as received Him, to them gave He power to 
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on 
His name." To as many as received Him. It is not 
dogma; it is not creed; it is not doctrine; it is not feeling; 
it is not an impression; but it is a person. "As many 
as received Him, to them gave He power to become the 
sons of God." We get power to serve God, power to 
live for God, power to work for God by receiving Christ, 
and there is no power until we do receive Him. What 
we want is to receive God's gift to the world. When He 
gave up Christ, He gave all He had. He literally 
emptied heaven. And He wants you to take Christ as 
you would take any other gift and receive it. Lay hold 
of that gift, and it will give you hope, and if you should, 



396 Moody's sermons. 

inside of twenty-four hours you can say, "The anchor 
holds; I have a hope." If God said if I would receive 
His Son, He would give me power to receive Him. I 
trust Him, and that is all He asks us to do. Let not 
any one here to-day say he can't believe on the Lord 
Jesus Christ. You have the power if you will. The will 
is the key to the human heart. " Ye will not come unto 
Me that ye might have life." Ye will not come unto Me 
and get this good hope. You can have it. Take it. 
God offers it to you. You can lay hold of this hope to- 
day. You can become His if you will. 




The Destruction of Sodom. Genesis, xix. 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 



We have for our subject to-day, the worldly professor. 
There is a class of people now-a-days that seem to say 
with a good deal of pleasure that they are Christians, 
but they are not the spiritual kind. They are paying 
members rather than praying members. They flatter 
themselves the church could not get on very well without 
them, and they seem to think it is really better to be- 
long to that class. 

Now, I want to call your attention to a man of that 
class to-day. It is Lot, and, as I said yesterday, that 
Peter was, a near kin of us all, I think we will find Lot a 
pretty close relative, if we will study his character. I 
think we will find that we come very near him. I think 
you will find to-day a good many more Lots in the 
church than you will find Abrahams. There are a good 
many more Jacobs than Josephs; men that are walking 
by sight rather than by faith. 

The first glimpse we get of this character is in the 
eleventh chapter of Genesis, thirty-first and thirty-second- 
verses, M And Terah took Abram, his son, and Lot, the 
son of Haran, his son's son, and Saria, his daughter-in 
law, his son Abram's wife; and they went forth with 
them from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of 

399 



400 MOODY S SERMONS. 

Canaan; and they came into Haran and dwelt there. 
And the days of Terah were two hundred and five years. 
And Terah died in Haran." 

Now, we find in the twelfth chapter, and the first and 
second verses, ''Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get 
thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from 
thy father's house, unto a land that I will show thee. 
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless 
thee and make thy name great, and thou shalt be a 
blessing." 

Now, God had called him out of the land of the idol- 
atars, he had called him away from his kindred, and he 
came, it says, to Haran. If you will look at the map of 
that country you will find that he came half way; and he 
staid there five years, until his father died. It was af- 
fliction that brought him out of Haran. 

Now, I think you will find that a good many of us 
have got to Haran, and there we have stopped. God has 
called us to the promised land, and the Lord wants us to 
go clear over into Canaan, but we think it is better to 
live on the border between the two; and the border 
Christians at the present time are the ones that are doing 
so much harm, not only to the cause of Christ, but to 
themselves and their own families. 

Now, what we want is to get out of Haran and get 
into the promised land where God wants us to go. We 
find that after Terah, the father of Abraham, died, they 
started and went down into the promised land, and the 
first thi ng that met them there was a famine. God 
will not have a man that he cannot try. This was a great 
trial. Not only that, but they found this land occupied. 
God had promised to give it to Abraham, and yet it was 



THE WORDLY PROFESSOR. 4OI 

occupied. He starts and goes down into Egypt. I have 
not followed that out, but I think it would be a very in- 
teresting study to look and see if God ever sent any one 
down into Egypt, unless it was his Son when He sent 
Him down there, and He fled away from the men that 
wanted to slay Him, and that the Scriptures might be 
fulfilled which says that He should call Him out of 
Egypt. 

Lot went down into Egypt, and there he got rich, and 
the world calls him very successful. And there was the 
beginning of the trouble between Lot and Abraham. 
They came up out of the country rich. While Abraham 
was down there, he fell into sin, and it was there he de- 
nied his wife. We find that his son Isaac did the same 
thing, fell upon the same stumbling stone that Abraham 
fell upon. It shows that our children are following in 
our footsteps. And when they came up out of Egypt we 
see a strife among the herdsmen. Riches very often 
bring strife and trouble. If Abraham had been like some 
men now-a-days; there would have been a good chance 
for a lawsuit. They would have gone into a lawsuit be- 
fore those heathen and caused a good deal of scandal. 
But Abraham was a man of faith. He said to his nephew, 
" We can't afford to quarrel here among these heathen; 
let there be no strife between us. You go to the right, 
and I will go to the left, or you to the left, and Lwill go 
to the right. You take your pick." Then was the be- 
ginning of Lot's trouble. He made a mistake. If Lot 
had allowed God to choose for him, he never would have 
gone down to Sodom that is clear. The Lord of heaven 
never took Lot by the hand and led him into the well- 
watered plains of Sodom. 



402 MOODY S SERMONS. 

I don't believe God ever led one of his children yet 
down into Sodom. I think the sweetest lesson I have 
learned since I have been in Christ's school — I have been 
a good while learning it; I wish I had learned that lesson 
the first year I came into His school — it is to let the 
Lord choose for me when it comes to temporal things. 
We are apt to think we can choose better than the Lord 
can. My little childrfc are very apt to think they can 
choose a good deal better for themselves than I can for 
them. But they don't know what is for their good half 
as well as I do; and I don't know what is good for my- 
self, especially in regard to temporal things, as well as my 
Father does. He can choose better for us than we can 
choose for ourselves. 

Now, in the sight of the world, Lot made a very fine 
choice. I will venture to say the men in his day said he 
was a shrewd, keen, sharp, long-headed man; and if he 
should live twenty-five years, he would be worth more 
than his uncle Abraham. He had got all those well-wa- 
tered plains of Sodom. He was a very shrewd business 
man. He was a man to be commended in the sight of 
the world. The world would commend such a spirit as 
that. But Abraham let his nephew take his choice, and 
they separated, and that was really the greatest mistake 
that Lot ever made. There was the beginning of his 
troubles. When we begin to choose for ourselves, we will 
always be making mistakes of that kind; and the mistakes 
of our life, we can sing every day, are many, if we at- 
tempt to choose for ourselves. 

I remember I wanted to teach my little girl this lesson 
some time ago, when she was a little thing. She had a 
good many dolls around the house — broken legs, and 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 403 

broken arms, and eyes, all lying around there; and she 
had been teasing me a good while to get a big doll — a 
great big one. So one day, I thought I would get her a 
big doll, and went to a toy shop. There was a basket- 
ful of little china dolls there, about as big as your finger. 
She got one and said, " Papa, isn't this the prettiest lit- 
tle doll you ever did see? Isn't that cunning? Now, papa, 
won't you buy me that doll?" 'Well, now," I said, 
1 'Emma, if you want me to, I will, but I was going to 
pick you out a doll this time. Hadn't I better choose for 
you?" "No, papa; I want that doll." She insisted upon 
it, and I paid a nickel, and we went off home. A day or 
two after, I said, "Emma, do you know what I was 
going to do when I took you into the toy shop the other 
day?" "No." "Well, I was going to buy you one of 
those great big dolls you wanted so long." ' ' Why didn't 
you do it?" " Because you wouldn't let me." "Why 
wouldn't I let you?" "Why, because you wanted to 
choose for yourself. You said you would rather have 
that doll," She bit her lips. She saw she had made a 
mistake; and from that day to this I never have been 
able to get that girl to pick out anything. She is fifteen 
years old now. She says, " You pick, you choose." 
When I was going off to Europe, I said, " Now, what 
shall I get for you while I am in Europe?" "Just what 
you please." I could not get her to pick out anything. 
She says, " You pick for me." 

Now, if we let the Lord choose for us, He will choose 
better for us than we can for ourselves. Lot wanted to 
choose for himself. I will venture to say when he left 
Abraham, if you had talked to him about going to Sodom, 
he would have said, " O, no; go into Sodom! Do you 



4O4 MOODY S SERMONS. 

think I would take my wife into Sodom? Do you think 
I would take my children down into Sodom — into that 
great city with all its temptations? Not I?" He pitched 
his tent towards Sodom. He looked towards the city, 
and it was not long before his business took him in there. 
He went down there, perhaps, to sell his cattle, and found 
there was a good market. Some of the leading men 
wanted him to come down there. He could make a good 
deal of money, could make money faster. When a man 
pitches his tent toward Sodom, and gets to looking in, it 
won't be long before he gets in there, tent and all. It 
was not long before Lot got down into Sodom. His busi- 
ness took him there. If you had talked to him he would 
have said, " Business must be attended to. A man must 
attend to business, you know." "But then it will be 
ruin to your family." " O, well, I am going to make 
money and get out of it. When I get enough to retire 
I will get out of it, move back and live on the plains 
with Abraham. But I must attend to business first." 
Many a man puts his business before his family. Busi- 
ness must be attended to to get rich, let the consequences 
be what they will; let ruin and desolation come upon the 
family, I must accumulate wealth while I have the op- 
portunity. Undoubtedly Lot reasoned in that way, as a 
great many people reason now. 

The next thing we hear of now is that Sodom has a 
war; and if you go into Sodom, you have to take a Sodom 
judgment. When the judgment does come, you have to 
take a part of it. If you take Sodom's money, you must 
take Sodom's judgment. War came, and the king of 
Sodom was defeated in battle, and Lot was taken a pris- 
oner, his wife and his children. And when the people 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 405 

on the plains told Abraham of it, and as soon as Abraham 
heard of it, he called his servants, three hundred and 
eighteen of them, and went in hot haste after the enemy, 
overtook them, and got Lot and his family and brought 
them all back. 

Now, he ought to have kept out of Sodom, he ought to 
have staid on the plains with the tent and altar, because 
all the time Lot was there in Sodom we never hear of 
his having an altar there. We never hear of his calling 
on the God of Abraham down there. He was down there 
trying to make money, and not to worship. That is not 
what he went to Sodom for. It was to get some of 
Sodom's money. That was what he was after; and in- 
stead of staying out, he goes back again. That ought to 
have been warning enough. Bat if you had reasoned with 
him, undoubtedly he would have told you he must go 
back and make up what he had lost. He had lost a good 
deal. He had got a start; he was known; he held some 
real estate down there, and he must go down there; he 
Wanted to look after it. There had been a fire, and the 
fire had burned up a number of his buildings, and he 
must go down and rebuild; and he takes his family and 
goes back into Sodom. In the sight of the world, Lot 
was one of the most successful men in all Sodom. If 
you had gone into Sodom a little while before destruction 
came upon it, and began to inquire about Sodom and its 
leading men, they would have told you, Lot, the nephew 
of Abraham, was one of the most successful men in all 
Sodom. He held office. We find him sitting at the 
gate; that is a sign that he was an officer; perhaps they 
made him a judge; a good, high-sounding name, Judge 
Lot. It is a good title; the world honored him; Sodom 



406 Moody's sermons. 

honored him. They liked him there very well. Then he 
would have reasoned in this way: " Don't you see 1 
have got an influence by coming down here." He was a 
man of great influence in the sight of the world — immense 
influence. They would have told you he was one of the 
most influential men in all Sodom. He owned, perhaps, 
the best corner lots, and he may have had his name on 
them. You might have seen his name on a good many 
of those corner lots, and on the best buildings in town, 
[f they had had a congress in those days, he would have 
been a very popular man to send to congress. It would 
have been "The Honorable Mr. Lot of Sodom." They 
would have made him mayor, perhaps. He was a man 
the world delighted to honor. The world delights to 
honor that kind of a man; a man of great influence. 

But I want to call your attention to one thing. He 
was there twenty years and never got a convert. That 
is the man of influence! Look around and see where the 
worldly Christians are. How many souls are they win- 
ning to Jesus Christ? Are they the men that are building 
up Christ's kingdom? I tell you those men are doing 
more to tear it down than any other class of men. Lot 
was so identified with Sodom, and so much like 
the men of Sodnm he came to testify for the 
God of Abraham do you think they would take 
his testimony? Not a word of it. Mrs. Lot, his 
wife, moved in the very highest circle, probably. If she 
rode out, she had the very best turnout. If they had 
theaters in those days, you would have found her at the 
theater. Her children, of course, were in the world, and 
they had to be like the world. Of course they danced. 
They were what you call dancing Christians, theater-go- 
ing Christians. If a nice opera comes along, the Chicago 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 407 

church choir or something of that kind, and it comes 
Friday night, prayer-meeting night, they are all there. 
They are not at the prayer-meeting. 

Ah, you smile, but the church is full of them to-day. 
We have our Lots. Twenty long years he stayed down 
there in Sodom; and when the messenger of God visited 
him, what did they find? I would be ashamed to read it 
to you. It would bring a tinge of red upon your cheeks. 
Many of you would blush and hang your heads. A child 
of God down there in Sodom! A child of God in such a 
dark place! Those two messengers didn't have any writ- 
ten word. God used to send messengers down. It had 
been a long time since Lot had seen any messengers 
from heaven. When he was back to the plains with 
Abraham, with the tent and the altar, they visited the 
tent, and he was quite familiar with them. He had seen 
them often talking to his uncle, but he had been down 
there in the mists and fogs of Sodom, and he had not 
seen those angels. But late one afternoon, two of them 
made their appearance at the gate. He was there sit- 
ting in his place of office, and he knew them. He invited 
them to his house. Most of you know what took place. 
If they had not performed a miracle there, the Sodomites 
would have slain those two men of God. They rose up 
against them. Lot tried to quiet them, and they mocked 
him. "This stranger coming here to dictate to us !" 
Where is his testimony? They didn't receive his testi- 
mony. These men tell us they want to get influence 
over the world and are going to reach the world in that 
way. Do they reach it in that way? Do worldly 
Christians reach the world? The world reaches them 
and pulls them down. They don't pull the world 
up. I never knew one that did it. It is the sepa- 



408 Moody's sermons. 

rated man — it is Abraham with the tent and the altaf, 
that is out of the mist and fog of Sodom, that is going 
to do Sodom good; not the men down in Sodom, living 
like Sodom. Separation is what we want to-day. We 
want the men of God to come out from the world. There 
is a difference between the men of God and the men of 
this world. They that serve the god of this world are 
the servants of sin and Satan. They that serve the Lord 
Jesus Christ do not belong to this world. The) 7 are citi- 
zens of another world. And these two messengers found 
such a horrible state of things, they said to Lot, " Have 
you any other children in Sodom, besides these two 
daughters here in this house? " And they found that two 
of his daughters had been given away to the Sodomites. 
Think of it. He had got rich; got money; he had got 
Sodom's money. But two of his daughters had been 
given to the Sodomites — those men living in such awful 
sin and such awful wickedness. What do we see to-day? 
Fathers and mothers giving their daughters to ungodly 
men, drinking men, gambling men, licentious men, men 
whose hearts are as black as hell; but they have a little 
money, and holds a little position, drive fast horses. 
Professed Christians! And that is the worst of it. Lot 
professed to be the servant of the most high God, living 
there in Sodom. 

The messengers said, " Go get them out; we are going 
to destroy this place. The wickedness of this place has 
come up to high heaven, and God is going to blast it. 
The day of judgment is coming. Make haste, Lot; get 
your children out of here." Look at that old man at 
midnight, gray-haired, in the evening of his life, moving 
along through the streets of Sodom with his head down. 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 409 

What a night for Lot! Here is your man of influence. 
He goes to the house where those sons-in-law are. They 
are, perhaps, asleep. He raps. Some one opens the 
window, puts his head out and he says, " Who is there?" 
" It is your father-in-law, Lot." "What are you here 
for at this time of the night?" " I have got a couple of 
messengers from heaven in my house, and they have 
brought news from heaven that God is going to destroy 
this city, and they want to have me get you out," and 
they mock at him. His own sons in-law mock him. 
There is your worldly man. There is the man that has 
gone into the world to get influence over it, and his own 
children, there they are, and they mock the old. He 
plead and undoubtedly wept over them, but it was all in 
vain. They mocked at his tears; they mocked at his en- 
treaties. "Why, Sodom to be destroyed? Away with 
such a delusion! Sodom was never more prosperous than 
it is to-day." They were eating and drinking, buying 
and selling, and building, until the fire came, as it was 
in the days of Noah "Sodom destroyed! We were 
never more prosperous than we are now. Away with such 
a delusion! God going to judge Sodom! We don't be- 
lieve it." His own children didn't believe it. We can 
see him going back to his house with a broken heart, 
head down, weeping. Early the next morning, the angel 
had to take him by the hand and hasten him out of the 
city. Poor Lot! He lingered. Do you know why he 
lingered? Ah! those loved ones were there. If there is 
any person on earth we ought to pity it is the father or 
mother that has led his children into the world and then 
can't get them out. You lead them in, and then when 
you try to lead them out, they laugh at you and mock 



4io Moody's sermons. 

you. O, to live so that our children will not take our 
testimony! I tell you if I know my own heart, I would 
rather he torn limb from limb on this platform, I would 
rather die this moment, than to live so that my children 
do not, would not have confidence in my testimony when 
I spoke of Jesus Christ and the religion of the Bible. I 
tell you if you live a worldly life as Lot did down in 
Sodom, that is going to be the result. The reaping time 
is coming, and we will have to reap the bitter fruit. Look 
at poor Lot as he takes his wife and his two daughters, 
and hastens out of the city. And his wife, no wonder 
she looked back. Those loved ones, those children were 
there. 

Now, just take an inventory of what Lot lost. He lost 
his testimony, that is certain. There was not a Sodomite 
that would take it, and his own family would not. He 
lost his wife and all his children but two. He lost all his 
property. He lost his peace of mind. He lost the so- 
ciety of Abraham. He fell still lower out on the moun- 
tain side. The curtain drops, )^ou might say, upon him, 
and he became the father of the backsliders. He became 
the father of a nation, that were afterwards enemies of 
God. The bitter fruit of backsliding! That is the end of 
the worldly professor. Yet they lift up their heads in 
this city and tell you they are not spiritually minded 
people, and rather boast of it. 

If you want to find out who is the successful man, you 
don't want to take a glimpse of him right in the middle 
of life, right in his prime, but take him from the cradle 
to the grave, and see what an influence the man leaves 
behind him. I will venture to say there are hundreds of 
men that would give all they have got if they could bury 



THE WORLDLY PROFESSOR. 411 

their influence in the grave with them. Their influence 
has been bad over their children, and in the community. 

Now, if there is a poor Lot in this audience to-day, I 
beg of you to get out of Sodom. 

Make haste! Don't linger any longer upon the plains, 
but start for Mount Calvary. Come back again and con- 
fess your sins, and ask God to forgive you, and then go 
to work and get your children out. Make haste! The 
judgment is coming. Men may mock and scoff as long 
as they have a mind to, but up yonder sits a God of judg- 
ment. He is going to judge. He says He will do it, 
and He will do it. It is only a question of time. We 
might as well own it as shut our eyes to it, and deny the 
fact that God is going to bring us to judgment; and if we 
live in the world, and like the world, and bring our chil- 
dren into the world, they are going to bring our gray 
hairs to an untimely grave. Many a father has gone be- 
fore us, and many of them to-day are on the way. 

Let us ask God to open our eyes, that we may see our 
true standing before God. It is a thousand times better 
to be like Abraham, out on the plains with a tent and 
altar, in daily communion with God, than it is to be in 
Sodom with the honor of the whole city rolled at your 
feet. The honor of this world is so empty, so fleeting! 
It is not worth crossing the street for. Let us get the 
world and Sodom under our feet to-day, and let us set 
our faces like a flint toward the God of Abraham, and 
let us be content to live on the plains with the tent and 
altar, and serve our God until He calls us hence. 



BIBLE READINGS. 



PEACE. 



Our subject to-day is peace. " How beautiful upon 
the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good 
tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings 
of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, 
thy God reigneth."- — Is. lii. 7. 

Now, the gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel of peace. 
He comes to bring peace to the earth; that is, to bring 
peace to those who love Him. 

Now I have often heard people say, "I don't under- 
stand, then, what that means in the tenth chapter of Mat- 
thew and thirty-fourth verse, 'Think not that I am come 
to send peace on earth. I came not to send peace, but 
a sword.'" But it is peace to them that have it, but a 
sword to them that have the sword. They that live in 
the flesh cannot live there with them that live in the spirit. 

There is a war between nature and grace. There al- 
ways was and always will be. The spirit of God and the 
spirit of the natural man never agreed and never will. 
There is as much difference between them as between 
oil and water, or day and night. You cannot unite 
them. 

412 




Leah. 



PEACE. 415 

One of the wildest young men in Chicago was con- 
verted two years ago, and he has become a very devoted 
Christian. He went to one of his old associates in sin, 
and spoke to him about becoming a Christian. The man 
turned on him with great rage and said, ''If you ever 
speak to me on that subject again, I will knock your head 
off." "That is strange, when I speak to you, and want 
to do you good, you get angry and say you will knock 
my head off." "Well, I ought not to have said it; I 
don't know what made me say it." " I know what made 
you say it; it is the devil in you and grace in me. They 
never have agreed and they never will." 

When you lay down the sword there is peace. He 
wants you to get peace. He came for that very purpose. 
If we will have Christ, then there is peace, but if not, 
who is to blame? If there is war it is not because He 
did not bring peace, but it is man's own corrupt nature, 
his own black heart. 

It is impossible to plant peace in this world without 
war. That is clear. The world is at war with God. 
It don't want Him. When we are willing to have peace 
we can enter into it. Christ brought it. He says in the 
sixteenth chapter of John, thirty-third verse, ' ' These 
things have I spoken unto you that in Me ye have peace. 
In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good 
cheer. I have overcome the world." 

A great mistake people make is that they are looking 
for peace in the world. It is not to be found in the 
world. We are going to have it by-and-by in that mil- 
lennium reign. Now is the time of Christ's rejection. But 
by-and-by He is coming back, " and righteousness shall 
be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of 



41 6 BIBLE READINGS. 

His reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and 
the leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the calf and 
the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child 
shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; 
their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion 
shall eat straw like the ox." That day has not come. 
Some people tell us we are living in the millennium. I 
don't see any signs just now of a millennium with all these 
standing armies. " They shall not hurt nor destroy in all 
my holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the 
knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea. And in 
that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for 
an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek and 
his rest shall be glorious." That is the millennium. That 
is not the present day. While men are lifting up their 
voices against God they cannot have peace. 

Now, there are some enemies to peace. Every sin is an 
enemy to peace. God turns the ways of the wicked up- 
side down. There is no peace for the wicked. In the 
twenty-second chapter of Job you will find this passage: 
" Acquaint now thyself with Him, and be at peace; there- 
by good shall come unto thee." Get acquainted with 
God, and you will get peace. He is the author of peace. 
The way to get peace is to feed upon the blessed word 
and find out what God is to us. Then we must have 
righteousness. Righteousness comes before peace. With- 
out right living, we cannot have peace. He wants every 
one of his children to have it. " Thou wilt keep him in 
perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee." But it is 
not read in that way. It is read, ' ' Thou wilt keep him 
in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on himself. 



PEACE. 417 

Now, in the fourteenth chapter of John, twenty-sev- 
enth verse, " Peace I leave with you; My peace I give 
unto you; not as the world giveth; give I unto you. Let 
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid." 

A great many people are all the time trying to make 
peace without entering into the conditions we enter in. 

Toward the close of the war there was a proclamation 
sent out that no more southern soldiers would be re- 
ceived in the union army. There were some in the 
southern army that hadn't seen the proclamation and a 
rebel deserter came up to the union army, but the union 
army would not have him. There he was between those 
great armies. He would not go back for fear of being 
shot as a deserter, so he took to the woods and hid him- 
self, and lived on roots and herbs. At last, he had to 
get food or die. One day, he met a man riding on horse- 
back, and he said, if that man didn't help him, he would 
kill him. The man said, ' ' What is the trouble?" Then 
he told him the trouble, " Why, "says he, " don't you 
know the war is over, and peace has been declared?" 
" What! peace declared?" " Yes." 

Ah, poor man! All he had to do was to enter into it. 
Thank God, peace has been declared. Jesus Christ has 
made peace. He has not left it for me. All I have to 
do is to enter into it. 



ASSURANCE. 



Our subject for this meeting is assurance. We have 
said considerable upon this subject, but I think a good 
deal more is needed to be said in order that the children 
of God may know that they are saved through Jesus 
Christ. There are some people that will not know that 
they are saved because they are not. I think there are 
some who want the assurance that they are saved that 
have not been born of the spirit. A person may unite 
with some church, go through all the forms, be a formal- 
ist, and know nothing about the grace of God, be a 
stranger to the new birth. If a person has not been re- 
generated by the power of the Holy Ghost, he will not 
have assurance, and should not have. 

Then there is another class, people who are living in 
some sin, not living by the light that God has given 
them; of course they will not have assurance. 

The next class is professed Christians, that are not 
willing to do anything for Christ. I don't believe that 
they will have assurance. When we are ready and will- 
ing to do what He says, I think there will be no trouble 
about our assurance. 

Now, Paul says, in the first chapter of Colossians, 
twelfth verse, "Giving thanks unto the Father which 

418 




The Prophet Amos. Amos, i, vii. 



ASSURANCE; 42 1 

hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of 
the saints in light; who hath delivered us from the power 
of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of 
His dear Son; in whom we have redemption through His 
blood, even the forgiveness of sins." 

Now, in those twelfth and thirteenth verses, it says 
1 'hath" three times; "hath made," "hath delivered," 
"hath translated." Not that He is going to do it, but 
that He hath done it. It is a very nice study to take up 
that little word "hath" all through Christ's teachings. 
It don't mean something that we are going to have at 
the end of life. "He that believeth on the Son hath 
everlasting life." Wherever you can find a truth re- 
peated three times you may know it is a very important 
truth, and He wants us to understand it. 

It is to me one of the most comforting things in the 
Scriptures that I have got eternal life; that when I was 
born — born out of God — that is the true rendering of 
that — that I got eternal life, and that means life without 
end. If it was only life for six months, or six years, it 
would not be everlasting life, would it? It would not be 
eternal life. And if I did not get eternal life at the new 
birth, if I did not get eternal life when I accepted of 
Jesus Christ, what did I get? 

We need not be left in darkness about our having this 
eternal life, because if we look into the Bible we can find 
over and over again where he gives us tests that we can put 
to ourselves. For instance, if I love the brethren, that 
is a sign that I have got Christ's spirit. If I love my 
enemies, that is a better sign. Now, it takes the grace 
of God, it takes the love of God; nothing but the love of 
God will enable me to do that. To love a man that 



422 BIBLE READINGS. 

slanders me; to love a man that would tear down my 
character; to love a man that would ruin and blast my life, 
takes something besides human love. You cannot do 
that of yourself. It is not in the power of man. You go 
out and preach to the world, tell men to love their ene- 
mies; they will say, " I ought to, but I hate them. I 
just hate them." If a man had come to me and told 
me before I was born of God to love my enemies, and 
pray for them that persecute me, he might as well 
have gone and talked to the wind. It was not in my 
power to do it. But when I was born of God, I got 
a new principle planted in me — the power to love my 
enemies; and the first impulse of the young convert is 
to love. I remember, when I was converted, 1 loved 
every person on the face of the earth. All bitterness 
had been taken out. To love a man that loves me, or 
a man that is lovely, takes no grace at all. The natural 
man does that. But to love those that do not care for 
you takes the love of God. Have you got that love? 
Let us put that test to ourselves. If we have, that is a 
sign that the Holy Gnost has shed abroad the love of 
God in our hearts, and we have the spirit of Calvary. 
Because the very moment Jesus Christ was being put to 
death on the cross, that very hour when they were mock- 
ing and deriding Him, He was praying, " Father, forgive 
them, for they know not what they do." If we have 
Christ's spirit, it seems to me we don't want any more 
evidence. 

We are told over here in Peter's second epistle, first 
chapter and fourth verse, ' ' Whereby are given unto us 
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye 
might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped 



ASSURANCE. 423 

the corruption that is in the world through lust." When 
I was born of my parents, I got the first Adam nature. 
When I was born of God, I got the second Adam nature, 
which is different. You ask me why God loves. I don't 
know. You ask me why the sun shines. I don't know. 
I suppose God loves on the same principle, He can't 
help it. He is love. If I am partaker of the same na- 
ture, I will have that love. " And besides this, giving 
all diligence, add to your faith, virtue; and to virtue, 
knowledge; and to knowledge, temperance; and to tem- 
perance, patience; and to patience, godliness; and to 
godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, 
charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they 
make you that you shall neither be barren nor unfruitful 
in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ." 

Now, how can we add to all these graces if we have 
none to add? If we don't know that we have a founda- 
tion to build on, how are we to add to it? It is impos- 
sible. We must first know that we have a foundation. 
We must first know that we have passed from death unto 
life. That we have been translated into the kingdom of 
His dear Son. 

There are two kingdoms, and we must belong to the 
one or the other. We are either saved, or we are not 
saved. God didn't come down and forgive me and leave 
me to perish. Christ died for me, and He will not bring 
anything against me, and God justified me, and He cer- 
tainly will not bring anything against me. " Who shall 
lay anything to God's elect?" Satan may bring on his 
charges; let him bring up my whole life. If God has 
forgiven me, what do I care? 

There was a man in England at one time, that was 



424 BIBLE READINGS. 

tried for his life. He had committed the crime of murder 
and he was convicted. One thing that amazed the court 
and the spectators was the coolness of the prisoner. He 
seemed to be quite unconcerned. When the jury brought 
in a verdict of guilty, it didn't seem to stir him at all. He 
was the most unconcerned man in the court-room. When 
the judge came to read him his sentence that he was to 
be hanged, the man put his hand in his pocket and 
pulled out a pardon, laid it down on the judge's bench 
and went out of the court a free man. Sin has con- 
demned us to death, but Christ is here with a pardon. I 
am not going to be condemned because God has justified 
me. The whole thing is blotted out. God says ' 'there 
is nothing in His ledger against us. God justifies the 
believer, therefore we have nothing to fear. " Ah," but 
you say, " I have sinned since I became a believer; that 
is what is troubling me." Now, God has made provision 
for the believer's sin. If he had not, I think the whole 
of us would be lost. Who has not sinned since he has 
believed? But I tell you what the Lord wants us to do* 
He wants us to confess our sins. Now, John says that 
if we confess our sins, and that is written to believers, 
" He is just and faithful to forgive our sins." I think the 
"believer's sins" would be a good text for a sermon. 
There are a great many believers that have got discour- 
aged about sin. Now, the difference between a Chris- 
tian and one that is not a Christian is that the Chris- 
tian confesses his sins, and the other does not. The 
true believer will go right to the Lord Jesus Christ and 
confess his sins. There was a time that I could sin, and 
it didn't hurt me. If I did the same thing I once did, it 
would break my heart. I could not do it. What we 



ASSURANCE. 425 

want is to go to the Master and tell it all to Him. " He 
is just and faithful to forgive." When your children do 
wrong and show true signs of contrition, how glad you 
are to forgive them! You delight to forgive them. 
' 'They say, Short accounts make long friends." 
What we want is to keep short accounts with God. Just 
square up the account every night before you go to bed. 
If you have done wrong, confess it, and ask God to for- 
give you, and He will put it away. He delights in for- 
giveness. When we do wrong, we want to take our sins 
right away to Him, confess them, and believe that He 
has put them away. It is very dishonoring for us to go 
lugging up our sins to the cross that has been put away. 
I think I can make that plain. Suppose I go to Chicago 
next week, and my little boy comes to me and says, "Do 
you know when you were down in this city, I did some- 
thing you told me never to do? I told a lie." I am 
very sorry to hear it. "I am very sorry myself, but 
I want you to forgive me." I saw the poor boy's heart 
was broken. It was true contrition. I take him to my 
bosom and tell him, "Yes, I will forgive you." The 
next day he comes to me, and he says, "I wish you 
would forgive that lie." "I have forgiven you, but to 
gratify you, will forgive you again." And the third day 
he comes and brings it up again; and the fourth day 
brings it up again, and week in and week out does the 
same thing. Don't you think we are grieving God, if He 
has forgiven us, by continually bringing up the same 
sins and asking Him to forgive them? If God has blotted 
out my sins, that is enough. Satan may bring up the 
record, but the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth 
us from all sin. 



426 BIBLE READINGS. 

Now, assurance is taking God without any "if's." 
There is a story in the life of the Emperor Napoleon 
that has been published a good many times, and that 
illustrates the point as well as anything I know of. Na- 
poleon was out one day viewing his army, accompanied 
by his body-guard, when his horse became frightened 
and ran away at great speed. A private soldier, seeing 
the peril of his commander, stepped out of the ranks, 
and, at the risk of his own life, grabbed the horse by the 
bit of the bridle and thereby saved the emperor's life. 
"Thank you, captain" said the emperor, and the sol- 
dier, instead of taking his usual place in the ranks, took 
his place as captain at the head of the emperor's body- 
guard. The commander of the guard, not knowing of the 
occurrence, disputed his right to the position when told 
that he was a captain, and asked him who said it. His 
reply was, " The emperor. " That settled it. So when 
the devil comes and says you are not a Christian, tell 
him who says it, the Lord Jesus said it. " He that be- 
lieveth on the Son hath everlasting life. " All the devils 
in hell can't make me believe that I don't believe in the 
Lord Jesus Christ. I do believe. "Well," but you say, 
" you don't love him enough." No, I don't; I wish I 
loved Him a thousand times more. But I believe Him, 
and I want to love Him more and more, and better and 
better. There is one thing I am sure of, and that is, He 
is mine, and I am His, and when you just get there my 
friends, then you can go right out and go to work. Real- 
ly there is no comfort, there is no peace; there, is no joy, 
without assurance. O, may God give us this assurance! 




ISAJAH. 



THE PROMISES. 



We have for our subject to-day, "The Promises." 
I am not going to talk much, but I want to have the 
friends all to be ready to give a promise. I remember a 
few years ago, in our church in Chicago, we wanted a 
little more life in the prayer-meetings, and we just gave 
out, instead of having prayer-meeting the next Friday 
night, that we would have a promise-meeting, and wanted 
everyone in the house to bring a promise. We were so 
afraid the whole Bible would not be read through that 
we gave each man a book to read, and we got the sixty- 
six books read through in one week. One man found a 
promise in Job. I didn't know there were any promises 
in Job. We had promises from all parts of the Bible. I 
think if the people would just feed more on the promises 
of God, that we would not have so many gloomy Chris- 
tians. That is what the promises are for — to help us in 
this wilderness journey. I don't believe there is a man 
can get into any position in this world — trouble, dark- 
ness, gloom, despondency — but God has some promise 
that will help him out if he will only hunt it up. But 
we have to hunt for it. 

429 



43° BIBLE READINGS. 

A man said to me, " What promise do you think the 
most of in the Bible?" " Well, I could not tell I have 
three children, and I could not tell which I like the best, 
but if I had ten it would be the same thing." The 
promises of God are all good. 

But we want the promises rightly divided. Satan has 
some promises, and there are a-great many people can't 
tell the difference. They are living on the devil's promises 
and wondering why they don't grow — why they don't get 
spiritual power. When Satan makes a promise, he may 
fulfill it, and he may not. He don't care whether he does 
or not. Then he has not the power to make all his 
promises good. 

Then there are promises that are made by man. They 
are, perhaps, good, and perhaps not. But when God 
makes promises, they are good — God's promises are all 
good. 

I remember, a few years ago, I went to work for a 
man in Chicago, it was quite a number of years ago. 
but time goes so fast in the Lord's service, it don't seem 
to be but a few days. My employer said, " I am going 
to send you out into the country collecting." The day 
before I started, he went to the safe and took out a large 
number of bills and notes, and spread them out on the 
table, and there he was at work. He would take his 
pencil and mark on the margin of the bills and notes, 
and I didn't understand what it meant. I was to start 
off on the ten o'clock train, at night. Before I started, 
he said to me, " I want you to sit down, and I will ex- 
plain to you about these notes." Said he, " When you 



THE PROMISES. 431 

come to a note and find "D" written on it, that is 
doubtful. Get all the collateral you can on that note. 
When you come across a note with " B " written on it, 
that means bad. That settle up if you can. Then 
there is another class of notes you will find "G" marked 
on; that means good. No discount on them. They are 
worth one hundred cents on the dollar. It was the 
same promise. The notes all read the same. Four or 
six months after date, "I promise to pay." All the 
difference was in the one that signed it. So when you 
come to these promises of the Bible, you want to find 
out whose they are. If it is some promise man has 
made, it may not be worth that [snapping his finger]. 
If it is a promise of the devil, I would not give that for 
it. He is an old liar and has been from the foundation 
of the world. But when God makes a promise, you can 
write down g-o-o-d on that promise every time. I think 
the people of the church are really dividing them into 
three classes. A great many people take some of God's 
promises and mark them "B," bad, and think God is not 
going to keep them. Then some they mark " D," 
doubtful. And then there a few they have seen fulfilled, 
and when they can't get around it, they mark them " G," 
good. When we come to one of God's promises, let us 
put down ''good." There is no discount on any prom- 
ise God ever made. Then we must bear in mind who 
the promise is made to. If the promise is made to pay 
this country one hundred million dollars, it would not 
help me pay my private debts. The nation might be 
worth one hundred million ^dollars more, and I not be 
worth a cent. The promise of a nation is one thing. 



432 BIBLE READINGS. 

We want to get a little closer to some promises that 
are to us. There are some promises that are to the 
church. They are very good. Then there are promises 
to individuals. Those are the promises we want to hunt 
up. Then there are promises made to Abjaham; some 
to Adam; some to Noah; some to Moses; some to Eiias, 
and to Gideon. Now, I could not take a promise that 
was made to Gideon. If I should take three hundred 
men to meet the great army of the Midianites, I would 
get most outrageously beaten and driven back, because 
that promise was not made to me, but to Gideon. When 
we study these prophecies, we want to find out that they 
are for " me." I know there are some for me, and I can 
lay hold of them from the fact that they are mine. 

Now, I am going to give you one or two promises I 
think a good deal of, and then I will throw the meeting 
open for others to give promises. John, first epistle, 
second chapter, twenty-fifth verse: "And this is the 
promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life.' 
That means me. That promise was for me. God offers 
it to me; the promise was eternal life, life without end. 
That is something I can appropriate. I can lay hold of 
that. Then turn to the forty-second chapter of the proph 
ecy of Isaiah, sixth verse, you will find another promise/ 
" I, the Lord, have called thee in righteousness and will 
hold mine hand and will keep thee, and give thee for a 
covenant of the people for a light of the Gentiles." 

We read in the tenth chapter of John and twenty- 
eighth verse, ' ' And I give unto them eternal life, and they 
shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of 
my hand." No one " shall pluck them out of my hand," 
neither devil nor man. Some one has said, we might 



THE PROMISES. 433 

slip through His fingers. But we can't slip through His 
fingers, because we are a part of His body. He has not 
only promised me eternal life, but He has promised 
to keep me. The keeper of Israel never sleeps. He will 
keep all them that put their trust in Him. 

In the forty-first chapter of Isaiah, tenth verse, "Fear 
thou not, for I am with thee: Be not dismayed, for I am 
thy God; and will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee. 
Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my right- 
eousness. " Thirteenth verse, "For I, the Lord, thy God 
will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I 
will help thee. 

In the thirteenth chapter of Hebrews, last part of the 
fifth verse, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." 
So that we may boldly say, the Lord is my helper, and I 
will not fear what man shall do unto me. 

Then I turn over into the twenty-third chapter of 
Joshua. We find there that Joshua was old and weary, 
and going to rest. If you want to get the real testimony 
of a man, you don't want to take it in the middle of his 
life. Joshua was one hundred and ten years old when 
he gave his testimony. He had tried God in the brick 
kilns of Egypt, making brick without straw. Talk about 
the hardships we have to go through! We don't know 
anything about it. You want to go back six thousand years 
and see what other men endured. He found God's word 
was true. This is his testimony: "This day I am going 
the way of all the earth; and ye know in all your hearts, 
and in all your souls, that not one thing has failed of all 
the good things which the Lord your God spake con- 
cerning you." O, let us drive these devil's lies back into 
the pit whence they came. God will fulfill all His prom- 
ises. There is a man that tried Him one hundred and 
ten years and found Him true. 

I knew an old lady that marked in the margin opposite 
the promises, T. P. , T. for tried and P. for proven. 
What we want is to try the Bible and see if it is not true. 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 



Our subject to-day is " Confessing Christ," and I want 
to call your attention to two characters. They both- 
lived in Jerusalem at the time Christ was here. One of 
them, you might say, stood on the very bottom round of 
the ladder. He was not only a blind man, but he was a 
beggar. The other stood in the very highest position. 
He was a very rich man. I want to call your attention 
to how those two men confessed Christ, and how in his 
sphere in life each did what the Lord would have him 
do, and what He would have every one of His disciples 
do. This ninth chapter of John is a most extraordinary 
chapter. I have not time to read the whole chapter. 
Here are forty verses given to an account of this one 
blind beggar; and it is just an account of his confession. 
We would have it all in two or three verses were it not 
for his confession. It was grand and bold, that man 
standing up there in Jerusalem confessing Christ. The 
Lord sent him to the pool of Siloam to wash. He went 
and came back clean. And the first thing we hear is a 
dispute about this man. The neighbors and those who 
had seen him before said, " Isn't this the blind man that 
used to sit and beg?" Some said it was he. Others said 
he looked very much like him. If he had been like some 
people at the present time, he would have said, "Well, 

434 




The Widow's Mite. Mark, xii, 41-44. 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 437 

I've got my sight. What do I care? There will be 
trouble about this if I don't keep still." But, says he, 
** I am he." It is a good thing when young converts get 
their lips open, if it is only to say, l< I am he." That was 
all he said. You will find that in the ninth verse. " Some 
said, This is he; others said, "He is like him; but he 
said, I am he. Therefore, said they unto him, How 
were thine eyes opened?" Now, he begins to tell his ex- 
perience. He answered and said, "A man that is called 
Jesus made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto 
me, Go to the pool of Siloam and wash; and I went 
and washed, and I received sight." A straightforward 
story. It is not the most flippant and fluent witness 
that has the most influence with the jury. It is the man 
who tells the truth, and tells it in his own language; 
don't need any polish; just testifies what he knows. 
" Then said they unto him, Where is he? He said, I 
know not." He did not tell more than he knew. Then 
again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received 
his sight. He said unto them, He put clay upon mine 
eyes, and I washed, and do see." He told his experience 
twice. He was not ashamed to tell it over the second 
time if he could do any good. " Therefore, said some of 
the Pharisees, this man is not of God, because he keepeth 
not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a man that 
is a sinner do such miracles? And -there was a division 
among them." I am afraid if we had been there we 
would have kept still. We would have said, "There is 
a storm coming. I will keep out of it. I will not take 
sides. I will be neutral." They say unto the blind man 
again, ' ' What sayest thou of Him, that He hath opened 
thine eyes?" He might have said, "I haven't seen Him. 



438 BIBLE READINGS. 

I don't know. When I came back He was gone. I didn't 
have my eyes when He met me. " He might have 
dodged the question. He might have said, "There is a 
storm brewing. I am going to get out of this storm. It 
is very unpopular to confess Jesus Christ now. There is 
a hiss going up against Him." He might very well have 
said, "Well, I don't know. I have not made up my 
mind. I have not seen Him. I would like to talk to 
Him." That would have been the expression of most of 
us. But this man, if you will allow me the expression, 
had backbone. He stood up and said, " He is a prophet." 
He did the best thing a young convert could do; 
told what the Lord had done for him, then confessed 
Him, and then began to talk about the Master. " Bat 
the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had 
been blind, and received his sight, until they called the 
parents of him that had received his sight. And they 
asked them, saying, Is this your son who ye say was 
born blind? How then doth he now see? His parents 
answered them and said, We know that this is our son, 
and that he was born blind, but by what means he now 
seeth, we know not; or who hath opened his eyes we 
know not; he is of age, ask him; he shall speak for him- 
self." I have great contempt for those parents. It was 
a downright lie. They knew their boy did not lie. They 
cast a reflection upon their son. They had not the moral 
courage to come right out and take their stand with their 
boy, and say, "Jesus of Nazareth did it." They were 
afraid they would lose their position. An edict had 
already gone forth that if any one should confess that he 
was Christ, he should be put out of the synagogue. It 
was a pretty serious thing to be cast out of the synagogue 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 439 

then. If a man is turned out of one church now, an- 
other church will take him. If the Presbyterians won't 
have him, the Methodists will take him in. If the Meth- 
odists won't take him in, perhaps the Baptists will re- 
ceive him. "He is of age; ask him." Do you know 
that is the trouble to-day? There is many a time when 
we could put our testimony in for Jesus Christ that we 
dodge the question. We haven't the moral stamina to 
confess Him when we have the opportunity. These par- 
ents never had such an opportunity, but they missed it. 
My friends, let us not miss an opportunity to speak for 
Jesus Christ. "These words spake his parents, because 
they feared the Jews, for the Jews had agreed already, 
that if any man did confess that he was Christ, he should 
be put out of the synagogue. Therefore, said his par- 
ents, He is of age; ask him. Then again called they 
the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give God 
the praise; we know that this man is a sinner. He 
answered and said, Whether he be a sinner or no, 
I know not; one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, 
now I see." All the Jews in Christendom could not beat 
that out of him. All the Pharisees in Jerusalem could 
not beat that out of him. " Don't I know? I have been 
following my way through the world these twenty odd 
years. Don't I know it?" And if we belong to God, 
shall we not know it? Can infidels and skeptics talk it 
out of us? Has He not given us a new life, a new nature, 
a new principle? 

You see he did not tell what he didn't know; but he 
stuck to what he did know pretty well. They could not 
move him. He stood there like a man. " Then said 
they to him again, What did He to thee? how opened He 



44^ BIBLE READINGS. 

thine eyes? He answered them, I have told you already, 
and ye did not hear; wherefore would ye hear it again? 
Will ye also be His disciples?" There is faith for you. 
He thought he was going to convert those old Pharisees 
on the spot; those men that Christ could not reach. 
That is what we want, young convert's zeal. He was a 
young convert worth having. If you had a few converts 
like that, your church would be worth something. 
''Then they reviled him, and said, Thou art His dis- 
ciple; but we are Moses' disciples. We know that God 
spake unto Moses; as for this fellow, we know not from 
whence he is. The man answered and said unto them, 
Why, herein is a marvelous thing, that ye know not 
from whence He is, and yet He hath opened mine eyes. 
Now, we know that God heareth not sinners; but if any 
man be a worshiper of God, and doeth His will, him He 
heareth. Since the world began was it not heard that 
any man opened the eyes of one that was born blind. If 
this man were not of God, he could do nothing." There 
is not a theologian in this town that could preach a better 
sermon than that. If he had been at Princeton four 
years, and sat at the feet of Dr. Hodge or any one else, 
he could not have got the theology that young man had. 
Most extraordinary young convert! He preaches like a 
saint. He preaches as though he had been sitting at the 
feet of Christ for twenty years. Wonderful argument! 
Couldn't get around it! He stood right there and 
preached Jesus Christ. And that is what we want to do 
as witnesses. Christ has left us down here to confess 
Him, to stand up for Him in this dark, unbelieving age. 
And if we stand up for Him, He will stand by us and 
help us. This man's testimony was so clear and so keen 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 44 1 

that they didn't like him. People talk about 'their hav- 
ing to leave the world. I tell you if you love Jesus 
Christ, and stand up for Him, you won't have to leave 
the world; the world will leave you. " They answered, 
and said unto him, Thou wast altogether born in sins, and 
dost thou teach us? And they cast him out." And 
where did they cast him? Right into the arms of the 
loving Savior. I tell you it is a good thing when our 
testimony is so clear for Jesus Christ that the world casts 
us out. The world can't separate us from the Master. 
The very next thing we hear in this story of this man is 
that Jesus heard of it; and he went out and found him. 
It pleased the Master. I will venture to say He did not 
find a man in all Jerusalem that pleased Him more than 
that poor, blind beggar. He was a prince among men, 
a man that could stand up against such an opposition as 
he stood against among those proud, haughty Pharisees, 
and confess Christ as he did. How it has come along 
down the ages! I want to see that blind beggar when I 
get to heaven. I want to shake hands with him, and 
thank him for that testimony. ' 'Jesus heard that they had 
cast him out, and when He had found him He said unto 
him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?" Of course 
he did, from the way he had been talking. No man could 
talk as he did if he didn't believe. " He answered and 
said, Who is he Lord, that I might believe on Him? 
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen Him, 
and it is He that talketh with thee. And he said, 
Lord, I believe. And he worshiped Him." We have 
him right there at the feet of the Savior. We could not 
have him in a better place. " And he worshiped Him.'' 
The next character I want to call your attention to is 



442 BIBLE READINGS. 

Joseph of Arimathea. I will not take up much time, 
although it is worth a whole day. John tells us that 
Joseph was a secret disciple of Jesus. Joseph and 
Nicodemus did not act very well while Christ was alive, 
I will admit. It was his death that brought them out. 
Nicodemus did not just cast his lot right in with those 
fisherman and follow Christ from village to village, but 
he kept his place in the synagogue. He stood up faintly 
for Him. But when Jesus Christ died, Joseph of Arima- 
thea and Nicodemus stood up boldly, no longer secret 
disciples, and when the other disciples left him, Joseph 
came out boldly and begged the body of Jesus Christ. 
The Sanhedrim had already said that if any man should 
confess that he was Christ, he should be cast out of the 
synagogue. Joseph was a man that stood high. He 
was a counselor; but we are told that he never gave his 
consent to the death of Jesus Christ. He was a rich 
man, an honorable man, a just man. But the only thing 
that Joseph did that has come along down the ages was 
to confess Jesus Christ. When the news came that 
Jesus was dead, he went in boldly to Pilate. He took 
his stand and identified himself with this despised Naza- 
rene, that had died the death of a common criminal, that 
had died the death of one of the most notorious crim- 
inals, for only the very worst criminals died the death of 
the cross. Joseph of Arimathea goes boldly into Pilate's 
judgment hall, begs that body; and he and Nicodemus 
take it down, wash it in clean water, wrap it in fine linen, 
and lay it in Joseph's sepulcher. Sweet act! Matthew, 
Mark, Luke, John, all tell it. It touched their hearts to 
think that Joseph should have done that act for the 
Master. Joseph had a good excuse for not doing it. 



CONFESSING CHRIST. 443 

He might have said, "He is dead. He is gone. If I 
confess Him now, I will lose caste in Jerusalem. I will 
let Him go." Nicodemus and Joseph might have done 
that; but they just took their stand. And how it has 
lived! It was the best act that Joseph ever did. And 
don't you think he lay down in that sepulcher all the 
more sweetly and cheerfully to think that Christ came 
up out of it? What a privilege! To lie in the sepul- 
cher that Christ came out of. He might have given thou- 
sands of dollars of money and not told it. But that one 
act he did for Jesus has outlived it all. So when we do 
anything for Him with the purest motives, He will bless 
us. That widow, perhaps, did not know what she was 
doing when she put those two mites into the treasury. 
But how it has come along down the ages! That wom- 
an that brought that alabaster box brought it for the 
Master. There is as much fragrance to that alabaster 
box now as there was when she broke it. It has filled 
the earth all these eighteen hundred years. 

O my friends, let us confess Jesus Christ in season 
and out of season. Let us give no uncertain sound. Let 
the world know that we are on the Lord's side. Let 
every particle of our influence be on the Lord's side. 
When I went to Europe, in 1867, I was introduced to a 
wealthy merchant in Dublin, a gray-haired, fine-looking 
man. Said he to the London merchant who introduced 
me, "Is this man all O. O.?" The London merchant 
colored. 4 ' I don't know what you mean by that. " "Is he 
out and out for Jesus Christ?" I have never forgotten the 
two O's. I would rather be D. L. Moody, O. O., than 
D. L. Moody, D. D. or LL. D. What we want to* 
day is to be on His side, out and out. 



TEACHING THE DEAF TO 
SPEAK. 



The Teeth the Best Medium and \he Audiphonetj/e 

Best Instrument for Conveying Sounds to 

the Deaf, and in Teaching the Partly 

Deaf and Dumb to Speak, 

Address Delivered by R. S. Rhodes, of 

Chicago, Before the Fourteenth Convention 

of American Teachers of the Deaf, at 

Flint, Michigan. 



Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

I would like to relate some of the causes which led to 
my presence with you to-day. 

About sixteen years ago I devised this instrument, the 
audiphone, which greatly assisted me in hearing, and 
discovered that many who had not learned to speak were 
not so deaf as myself. I reasoned that an instrument in 
the hands of one who had not learned to speak would 
act the same as when in the hands of one who had 
learned to speak, and that the mere fact of one not being 
able to speak would in no wise affect the action of the 
instrument. To ascertain if or not my simple reasoning 
was correct, I borrowed a deaf-mute, a boy about twelve 
years old, and took him to my farm. We arrived there 
in the evening, and during the evening I experimented to 



THE AUDIPHONB. 

see if he could distinguish some of the vowel sounds. My 
experiments in this direction were quite satisfactory. 
Early in the morning I provided him with an audiphong 
and took him by the hand for a walk about the farm. 
We soon came across a flock of turkeys. We approached 
closely, the boy with his audiphone adjusted to his teeth, 
and when the gobbler spoke in his peculiar voice, the boy 
was convulsed with laughter, and jumping for joy con- 
tinued to follow the fowl with his audiphone properly 
adjusted, and at every remark of the gobbler the boy was 
delighted. I was myself delighted, and began to think 
my reasoning was correct. 

We next visited the barn. I led him into a stall beside 
a horse munching his oats, and to my delight he could 
hear the grinding of the horse's teeth when the audiphone 
was adjusted, and neither of us could without. In the 
stable yard was a cow lowing for its calf, which he plainly 
showed he could hear, and when I led him to the cow- 
barn where the calf was confined, he could hear it reply 
to the cow, and by signs showed that he understood their 
language, and that he knew the one was calling for the 
other. We then visited the pig-sty where the porkers 
poked their noses near to us. He could hear them with 
the audiphone adjusted, and enjoyed their talk, and 
understood that they wanted more to eat. I gave him 
some corn to throw over to them, and he signed that that 
was what they wanted, and that now they were satisfied. 
He soon, however, broke away from me and pursued the 
gobbler and manifested more satisfaction in listening to 
its voice than to mine, and the vowel sounds as com- 
pared to it were of slight importance to him, and for the 
three days he was at my farm that poor turkey gobblet 
bad but little teats 



HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 

With these and other experiments I was satisfied that 
he could hear, and that there were many like him; so I 
took my grip and audiphones and visited most of the 
institutions for the deaf in this country. In all institu- 
tions I found many who could hear well, and presented 
the instrument with which this hearing could be improved 
and brought within the scope of the human voice. But 
at one institution I was astonished; I found a bright girl 
with perfect hearing being educated to the sign language. 
She could repeat words after me parrot-like, but had no 
knowledge of their value in sentences. I inquired why 
she was in the institution for the deaf, and by examining 
the records we learned she was the child of deaf-mute 
parents, and had been brought up by them in the country, 
and although her hearing was perfect, she had not heard 
Bpoken language enough to acquire it, and I was informed 
by the superintendent of the institution that she pre- 
ferred signs to speech. I was astonished that a child 
with no knowledge of the value of speech should be per^ 
tnitted to elect to be educated by signs instead of speech, 
and to be so educated in a state institution. This cir- 
cumstance convinced me more than ever that there wag 
a great work to be done in redeeming the partly deaf 
children from the slavery of silence, and I was more 
firmly resolved than ever that I would devote the re- 
mainder of my life to this cause. 

I have had learned scientists tell me that I could not 
hear through my teeth. It would take more scientists 
than ever were born to convince me that I did not hear 
/iy sainted mother's and beloved father's dying voice 
with this instrument, when I could not have heard it 
without 



THE AUDIPHONE. 

It would take more scientists than ever were born t*# 
* onvince me that I did not hear the voice of the Rev k 
)ames B. McClure, one who has been dear to me for the 
last twenty years, and accompanied me on most of my 
visits to institutions spoken of above, and who has en- 
couraged me in my labors for the deaf all these years, say, 
as I held his hand on his dying bed only Monday last, 
and took my final leave from him (and let me say, 1 
know of no cause but this that would have induced me 
to leave him then), " Go to Flint; do all the good you 
can. God bless your labors for the deaf! We shall 
never meet again on earth. Meet me above. Good-by!" 

And, Mr. President, when I am laid at rest, it will be 
with gratitude to you and with greater resignation for the 
active part you have taken in the interest of these partly 
deaf children in having a section for aural work admitted 
to this national convention, for in this act you have con- 
tributed to placing this work on a firm foundation, which 
is sure to result in the greatest good to this class. 

You have heard our friend, the inventor of the tele- 
phone, say that in his experiments for a device to im- 
prove the hearing of the deaf, (as he was not qualified 
by deafness,) he did not succeed, but invented the tele- 
phone instead, which has lined his pocket with gold. 
From what I know of the gentleman, I believe he would 
willingly part with all the gold he has received for the 
use of this wonderful invention, had he succeeded in his 
efforts in devising an instrument which would have 
emancipated even twenty per cent, of the deaf in the in- 
stitutions from the slavery of silence. I have often 
wished that he might have invented the audiphone and 



HEARING THROUGH THE TEETH. 

received as much benefit by its use as I, for then he 
would have used the gold he derives from the telephone 
in carrying the boon to the deaf; but when I consider 
that in wishing this I must wish him deaf, and as it would 
not be right for me to wish him this great affliction, there- 
fore since I am deaf, and I invented the audiphone, J 
would rather wish that I might have invented the tele- 
phone also; in which case I assure the deaf that I would 
have used my gold as freely in their behalf as would he. 
[The speaker then explained the use of the audiometer 
in measuring the degree of hearing one may possess. 
Then, at his request, a gentleman from the audience, a 
superintendent of one of our large institutions, took a 
position about five feet from the speaker, and was asked 
to speak loud enough for Mr. Rhodes toiiear when he did 
not have the audiphone in use, and by shouting at the top 
of his voice, Mr. Rhodes was able to hear only two or 
three "o" sounds, but could not distinguish a word. 
With the audiphone adjusted to his teeth, still looking 
away from the speaker, he was able to understand ordinary 
tones, and repeated sentences after him; and, when look- 
ing at him and using his eye and audiphone, the speaker 
lowering his voice nearly as much as possible and 
yet articulating, Mr, Rhodes distinctly heard every 
word and repeated sentences after him, thus showing the 
value of the audiphone and eye combined, although Mr 
Rhodes had never received instructions in lip reading, 
The gentleman stated that he had tested Mr. Rhodes' 
hearing with the audiometer when he was at his institu- 
tion in 1894, and found he possessed seven per cent, in 
his left ear and nothing in his right.] 



FOR THE DEAF. 

THE AUDIPHONE 

/*» Instrument that Enables Deaf Persons to Hear Or- 
dinary Conversation Readily through the Medium of 
the Teeth, and Many of those Born Deaf and Dumb 
t« Hear and Learn to Speak. 

INVENTED BY RICHARD S. RHODES, CHICAGO. 

Medal Awarded at the World's Columbia Expo- 
sition, Chicago. 

The Audiphone is a new instrument made of a peculiar composition, 
posessing the property of gathering the faintest sounds (somewhat similar 
to a telephone diaphragm), and conveying them to the auditory nerve, 
through the medium of the teeth. The external ear has nothing what- 
ever to do in hearing with this wonderful instrument. 

Thousands are in use by those who would not do without them for 
any consideration. It has enabled doctors and lawyers to resume practice, 
teachers to resume teaching, mothers to hear the voices of their children, 
thousands to hear their ministers, attend concerts and theatres, and 
engage in general conversation. Music is heard perfectly with it when 
without i, not a note could be distinguished. It is convenient to carry 
and to use. Ordinary conversation can be heard with ease. In most 
cases deafness is not detected 

Full instructions will be sent with each instrument. The Audiphone 
is patented throughout the civilized world. 

PRICE: 

Conversational, small size ---.--- $3.00 

Conversational, medium si2e, - - - - - - 3.00 

Concert size, - - - - - 5.00 

Trial instrument, good and serviceable, - - - - 1.50 

The Audiphone will be sent to any address, on receipt of price, by 

Rhodes & McClure Publishing Co., 

296 Wabash Avenue, Chicago, 111. 



PUBLISHED BY 

RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO., 

Chicago. 



%1I handsomely bound in the best English and American cloths, with full Silver- 
embossed side and back stamp; uniform in style of binding. Together making 
a handsome libr^ • 7, or, separately, making handsome center-table volumes. 

PRICE, S1.00 EACH. SENT POST-PAID. 



ABRAHAM LINCOLN'S STORIES AND SPEECHES; in one 
volume, complete. New (1897) edition, handsomely illustrated; 
containing the many witty, pointed and unequaled stories as told 
by Mr. Lincoln, including Early life stories, Professional life 
stories, White House and War stories; also presenting the full 
text of the popular Speeches of Mr. Lincoln on the great ques 
tions of the age, including his "First Political Speech," "Rail- 
Splitting Speech," " Great Debate with Douglas," and his Won- 
derful Speech at Gettysburg, etc., etc.; and including his two 
great Inaugurals, with many grand illustrations. An instructive 
and valuable book; 477 pages. 

MOODY'S ANECDOTES; 210 pages, exclusive of 
engravings. Containing several hundred interesting 
stories, told by the great evangelist, D. L. Moody, 
in his wonderful work in Europe and America. 
Hundreds of thousands of copies have been sold. 
Illustrated with excellent engravings of Messrs. 
Moody, Sankey, Whittle and Bliss, and thirty-two 
full-page engravings from Gustave Dore, making 
an artistic and handsome volume. "A book of an- 
ecdotes which have thrilled hundreds of thou' 
sands." — Pittsburg Banner. 

MOODY'S GOSPEL SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangel- 
ist, Dwight Lyman Moody, in his revival work in Great Britain 
and America. Together with a biography of Mr. Moody and his 
co-laborer, Ira David Sankey. Including, also, a short history of the 
Great Revival. Each sermon is illustrated with a handsome, full-page 
engraving from Gustave Dore. The book also contains an engraving of 
D. L. Moody, Ira D. Sankey, Mr. Moody Preaching in the Royal Opera 
House, Haymarket, London, Chicago Tabernacle (erected for Mr. 
Moody's services) and "I Am the Way." A handsome and attractive vol- 
ume of 443 p ges. 

MOODY'S LATEST SERMONS. As delivered by the great Evangel- 
ist, Dwight Lyman Moody. Handsomely illustrated with twenty- 
four full-page engravings from Gustave Dore. 335 pages. 

MOODY'S CHILD STORIES. As related by Dwight Lyman Moody 
in his revival work. Handsomely illustrated with sixteen full-page 
engravings from Gustave Dore and 106 illustrations from J. Stuart 
Littlejohn. A book adapted to children, but interesting to adults. A 
handsome volume Should be in every family 237 pages. 





Standard Publications, $1 each, bound in Cloifeo 

.SAM JONES' GOSPEL SERMONS: 346 pages, 
exclusive of engravings. Sam Jones is pronounced 
"one of the most sensational preachers in the world, 
and yet among the most effective." His sermons are 
characterized L-y clearness, point and great common 
sense, including "hits" that ring like guns. Printed 
in large type, and illustrated with engravings of Sam 
Jones and Sam Small, and with nineteen full-page 
engravings from Gustave Dore. 

SAM JONES' LATEST SERMONS. The favor with which Sam 
Jones' Gospel Serrri' ns has been received by the public has induced 
us to issue this book of his Latest Sermons. Each ; ermon is illustrated 
with a full-pc ge illustration from Gustave Dore's Bible Gallery. The 
book is bound uniformly with his Gospel Sermons, and contains, besides 
illustrations, reading matttr of 350 pages. 

SAM JONES' ANECDOTES; 300 pages. An exceedingly interesting 
and entertaining volume, containing the many telling and effective 
stories told by Mr. Jones in his sermons. They strike in all directions 
and always impart good moral lessons that can not be misunderstood. 
Adapted for the young and old. A book which everybody can enjoy. 

MISTAKES OF INGERSOLL; and his Answers 
complete; newly revised popular (1897) edition; 
illustrated, 482 pages. Containing the full 
replies of Prof. Swing, Judge Black, J. Munro 
Gibson, D. D., Chaplain 3 McCabe, Bishop 
Cheney, Dr. Thomas, Dr. Maclauglan, Dr. 
Goodwin and other eminent scholars to Inger. 
soil's Lectures on the "Mistakes of Moses, '- 
"Skulls," "What Shall We Do to be Saved?" and " Thomas Paine," 
to which are appended in full these Ingersoll lectures and his replies A' 
fair presentation of the full discussion. 

GREAT SPEECHES OF COL. R. G. INGERSOLL; complete; 
newly revised (1897) edition; 409 pages. Containing the many 
eloquent, timely, practical speeches of this most gifted o.ator and states- 
man, including his recent matchless " Eulogy on Abraham Lincoln," 
" Speech on the Declaration of Independence," "To the Farmers on 
Farming," Funeral Oration at his Brother's Grave, etc., etc. Fully 
and handsomely illustrated. 

WIT, WISDOM AND ELOQUENCE OF COL. R. G. INGERSOLL; 
newly revised popular (1897) edition, illustrated; 336 pages. Con- 
taining the remarkable Witticisms, terse, pungent and sarcastic sayings, 
and eloquent extracts on popular themes, from Ingersoll's Speeches; a 
very entertaining volume. 

yHE FIRST MORTGAGE; 310 pages. A truthful, instructive, pleas- 
1 ing and poetical presentation of Biblical stories, history and gospel 
truth; fully and handsomely illustrated from the world-renowned artist, 
Gustave Dore, by E. U. Cook, the whole forming an exceedingly inter- 
esting and entertaining poetical Bible. One of the handsomest volumes 
ever issued in Chicago 




Standard Publications, $1 each, bound in Cloth. 



EVILS OF THE CITIES: By T. DeWitt Talmage, D. D.; 530 pages. 
The author, in company with the proper detectives, visited many of 
the most vile and wicked places in New York City and Brooklyn, osten- 
sibly looking for a thief, but in reality taking notes for a series of 
discourses published in this volume, which contains a full and graphic 
description cf what he saw and the lessons drawn therefrom. The Doctor 
has also exte ded his observations to the "Summer Resorts," "Watering 
Places," Rcces, etc., etc., all of which are popularized from his standpoint 
in this volume. Handsomely illustrated and decidedly interesting. 

TALMAGE IN THE HOLY LAND: 322 pages. The 
Palestine Sermons of T. DeWitt Talmage, delivered during 
his tour of the Holy Land. Including graphic descriptions 
of Sacred Places, Vivid Delineations of Gospel Truths, 
interesting local reminiscences, etc., etc., by his visit to the 
many places made sacred by the personal presence of Jesus 
and the great pens of Biblical characters and writers. 
Copiously illustrated. 

SIN: A series of popular discourses delivered by T. DeWitt 
Talmage, D. D., and illustrated with 136 engravings by 
H. De Lay; 411 pages. 

MCNEILL'S POPULAR SERMONS: 373 pages. Delivered in Lon- 
i 1 con and America by the Rev. John McNeill, one of the ablest and 
most p< pular of living divines, and known on both continents as "The 
SccTch Spurgeon " of Europe, of whom D. L. Moody has said: " He is 
the greatest preacher in the world." A most clear, vivid, earnest and 
life-like presentation of Gospel Truth; sincerely and decidedly spiritual. 
A most edifying, instructive and entertaining volume for young and old. 





EDISON AND HIS INVENTIONS: 278 page*. Containing 
full illustrated explanations of the new and wonderful Pho- 
nograph, Telephone, Electric Light, and all his principal 
inventions, in Edison's own language, generally, including 
many incidents, anecdotes and interesting particulars connect- 
ed with the earlier and later life of the world-renowned 
inventor, together with a full Electrical Dictionary, explain- 
ing all of the new electrical terms; making a very entertain- 
ing and valuable book of the life and works of Edison. 
Profusely illustrated. 



GEMS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY. A choice selection 
of wise, eloquent extracts from Talmage, Beecher, Moody 
Spurgeon, Guthrie and Parker, forming a volume thai 
keenly interests. A good gift and center table book. 
300 pages, Illustrated 



Standard Publications, $1 each, bound in Cloth. 




TEN YEARS A COW BOY. A full and vivid de- 
scription of frontier life, including romance, advent- 
ure and all the varied experiences incident to a life 
on the plains as cow boy, stock owner, rancher, etc., 
together with articles on cattle and sheep raising, 
how to make money, description of the plains, etc., 
etc. Illustrated with ioo full-page engravings, and 
contains reading matter 471 pages. 



WILD LIFE IN THE FAR WEST. By C. H. Simpson, a resident 
detective, living in this country. Giving a full and graphic account 
of his thrilling adventures among the Indians and outlaws of Mon- 
lana — including hunting, hair-breadth escapes, captivity, punishment and 
difficulties of all kinds met with in this wild and lawless country. Illus- 
trated by 30 full -page engravings, by G. S. Littlejohn, and contains read- 
; ng matter 264 pages. 

A YANKEE'S ADVENTURES IN SOUTH AFRICA. (In the dia- 
mond country.) By C. H. Simpson. Giving the varied experiences, 
adventures, dangers and narrow escapes of a Yankee seeking his 
fortune in this wild country, which by undaunted courage, perseverance, 
suffering, fighting and adventures of various sorts is requited at last by 
the ownership of the largest diamond taken out of the Kimberly mines 
up to that time, and with the heart and hand of the fairest daughter of a 
diamond king. Containing 30 full-page illustrations by H. DeLay and 
reading matter 220 pages. 




WIT. Contains sketches from Mark Twain, witticisms 
from F. H. Carruth, Douglas Jerrold, M. Quad, Opie 
Reid, Mrs. Partington, Eli Perkins, O'Malley, Bill 
Nye, Artemus Ward, Abe Lincoln, Burdette, Daniel 
Webster, Victor Hugo, Brother Gardner, Clinton 
Scollard, Tom Hood, L. R. Catlin, Josh. Billings, 
Chauncey Depew and all humorous writers of mod- 
ern times. Illustrated with 75 full-page engravings, 
by H. DeLay, and contains reading matter 407 pages. 



BENONI AND SERAPTA. A Story of the Time of the Great Con- 
stantine, Founder of the Christian Faith. By Douglas Vernon. A 
religious novel showing a Parsee's constancy and faith through 
many persecutions, trials and difficulties, placed in his way by priests, 
nobles and queens of his time and his final triumph over all obstacles 
Being an interesting novel, intended to show the state of the religious 
feelings and unscrupulous intrigues of those professing religion at the 
time of the foundation of the Christian faith. Illustrated with 33 full* 
page engravings, by H. DeLay, and contains reading matter 389 pages 






<D DICTIONARY 



WEBSTER'S UNABRIDC 

This Dictionary 
contains every word 
that Noah Webster 
ever defined, and 
the following 

Special 

Features 

An Appendix of 

10,000 Additional 

Wo)'ds. 
A List of 

Synonyms. 



Pronouncing 
cabularies of 

SCRIPTURE NAMES 
GREEB AND LATIN 
PROPER NAMES 
MODERN 

GEOGRAPHICAL 
NAMES. 



A Dictionary of 
Mercantile and Le- 
gal Terms. Eighty- 
six pages of illus- 
trations, portraying 
over 3,000 objects 
difficult to discribe 
in words. The 
Flags of all Nations 
in Colors. 

Size 10^x8^x3^ inches; weight about 7^ lbs; 1,700 pages, 
illustrated. Strongly and durably bound in three styles. 

HALF RUSSIA .... PRICE, $3.00 

FULL SHEEP PRICE, $4.00 

SPECIAL TAN SHEEP. . . PRICE, $5. OO 

THUMB INDEX 50 CENTS EXTRA. 
This Dictionary also contains a frontispiece portrait of Noah 
Webster; author's preface; a memoir of the English language; rules for 
pronunciation, etc., etc. 

Printed on good grade of clear white paper, and especial care is 
taken with the binding. For the sheep binding a beautiful cover design 
was made. 

RHODES & McCLURE PUBLISHING CO. 

296 WABASH AVENUE, CHICAGO, ILL. 




"tiiiilii 

inches; weight 



